I need your help, your advise, your wisdom...on the subject of copyright.
Let me start by saying that copyright is a serious issue to me. I have one listed in the sidebar of this blog. In fact, it's the second item in the sidebar, just below the photo of me, so it should be a bit difficult to miss.
Maybe I'm being naive, but I do expect my copyright to be honored by visitors to my blog just as I honor copyrights listed on other's blogs. If you want to post one of my photos from this blog somewhere, in this case to Pinterest, I truly do expect to be asked permission to use my photo.
While perusing the blog's stats tonight, I noticed that 7 visitors had come by way of Pinterest this week. It struck me as a bit odd considering that I do not have a Pinterest account. Tumblr and Flickr, yes. Pinterest, no.
So...how did Pinterest end up being a referral site for 7 visits? Good question. I checked out the referring url section of the blog stats and clicked on the referring url listed. Sure enough, there's one of my rusty circles photos with from jennifercoynequdeen.blogspot.com listed above it.
But wait...over to left is a box that says also from jennifercoynequdeen.blogspot.com and showing two other photos of mine. All of this done without my knowledge, without my permission.
HELP!!!
Right now I'm ready to fill out Pinterest's copyright infringement form for 3 people. One of whom is a mentor of a friend.
HELP!!!
I'm so furious that I can't think straight!!!!!!! It's taken 45 minutes to write this post because I keep making so many mistakes.
What would you do? Please. What would you do in this case?
I know that any photos I post to Tumblr are open for reblogging. If one of my Tumblr photos had made its way to someone's Pinterest page, that would be fine. The same holds for anything posted to Flickr. But not to this blog. Or am I being ridiculously naive?
HELP!!! PLEASE!!!
Hi Jennifer
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of my images from Judy's Journal up on pinterest. Just about all of them have my name underneath, and that they came from my blog.
Like you, over to the left, I could see what other ones had been posted by pinterest people. A lot. It was interesting. There was even a photo of my husband with his new deck.
And then over on tumblr, people have been posting my images. I just found that out last week.
I am not enraged. I feel that as long as people do not try to make money from my work, then I am happy to share it. There's really no way to keep them from taking these images.
Because my work has been pinned by so many people, if one of them did claim it as their own, I have a lot of witnesses that it is not. If one of them used my work and made a t-shirt or a bag with one of my idea, it might be stinky, but I would be able to raise a claim. The internet is a wonderful resource, and I love being able to see others work.
I sometimes put photos on my blog that I've taken from artist's websites. I feel that I am giving them good publicity. I'm sure that the pinterest people think that as well.
I think we should wait and see.
And p.s. - thanks for the nod you gave to me in your post yesterday.
xxx
Thank you for your wisdom Judy!
DeleteI'm finding that I've become a bit outdated in my views on copyright as it applies in this internet age. After hitting publish on last night's post, I went downstairs to discuss the issue with my husband who is far more internet savvy than I. He calmly explained the internet culture and pointed out what you already know about the advertising benefits of it and of others reposting images because they like the work.
While I'm still a stickler about copyright...still don't want anyone taking my photo and reproducing it for gain or claiming it or my work as their own...the calmer me sees things a little differently.
I researched creative commons copyright licenses this morning and changed my copyright to one of those.
You're welcome for the nod the other day. Here's a case of where I wanted to include a photo of your work from your blog, but didn't take the time to inquire if you minded. Hence, no photo which would hopefully have generated more visitors to your blog. Next time I mention you, would you mind if I post a photo too?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts so candidly. It really does help.
Enjoy! Jennifer
copyright in this brand new webby world is a giant can of worms......
ReplyDeleteI have had so many of my images taken from my blog/web pages and reblogged without a thought or a link or attribution let along permission.....
recently I posted my thoughts here: http://www.rhondaayliffe.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/copy-right.html
I remember reading your thoughts at the time and wondering just what all had happened. As you said, "copyright in this brand new webby world is a giant can of worms" and it's been a huge bolt of lightening to find out just how out of date my thinking was. Can I attribute it to mom-brain? Ha!
DeleteThank you for sharing your post and for stopping by. Be well.
What else can you expect when you put yourself and your work out on the internet?
ReplyDeleteI'm not necessarily condoning what was done, but you really shouldn't be surprised.
It's part of the huge connection--and it did bring people to your blog.
You are correct - I should have expected it and it did bring people to my blog because the photos were attributed to me and linked back the blog.
DeleteThank you for your input.
I have been 'pinned' and Tumbled without permission as well. I actually thought of it as a compliment. As long as someone is not making my work or money from my images and links back to the source (my blog) then I feel it is one of the reasons I am online - for publicity, right?
ReplyDeleteAnd seriously, how can we expect to not be copied - this internet is wide-open - not many rules and lots of all kinds of people own computers - many with no idea what the word copyright means. I think it's just the nature of being an artist and being online, so the only way to truly stop it - is to take your work offline.
Even if Pinterest or Tumblr, or StumbleUpon post a copyright statement - it's pretty difficult to enforce.
You are absolutely right. I've found out the hard way that my views on copyright and the internet are, shall we say, a bit outdated.
DeleteAfter a talk with husband, calming down and good night's sleep, I've revamped my views and changed my copyright to one of creative commons.
Thank you for visiting the blog and, especially, for sharing your view on the subject. Enjoy!