You may notice that I don't attach many graphics or photographs to my posts. Most of the photos I use are ones I have taken myself. There is a reason for this. It is because I am concerned (worried) about copyright infringement.
My experiences as a teacher, textbook author, and journal editor have provided me with quite a bit of knowledge about copyright. However, my knowledge is primarily related to copyright of books and magazines. My understanding of how copyright works on the Internet is miniscule. Of course, I know the basic principles--what you create is yours, unless you give permission for someone else to use it. There are exceptions for such things as small segments of quoted text as long as it is attributed (otherwise we call this plagiarism). Unfortunately, very few people understand the complexities of copyright, or if they do, abide by it.
When I visit different blogs I often see photographs of celebrities, scenes from movies, segments from television shows, and even long sections of text drawn from other sources. Did these bloggers actually take that photograph of Paris Hilton themselves? Were they there during the filming of Gone With the Wind and got that great shot? Did they have their camcorders rolling while visiting the set of The Office? Probably not. In most instances, these bloggers have copied these photos or videos from other sites and pasted them on their own sites without getting permission. This is illegal. Some bloggers may know this, but many, I venture to guess, do not.
My experiences as a teacher, textbook author, and journal editor have provided me with quite a bit of knowledge about copyright. However, my knowledge is primarily related to copyright of books and magazines. My understanding of how copyright works on the Internet is miniscule. Of course, I know the basic principles--what you create is yours, unless you give permission for someone else to use it. There are exceptions for such things as small segments of quoted text as long as it is attributed (otherwise we call this plagiarism). Unfortunately, very few people understand the complexities of copyright, or if they do, abide by it.
When I visit different blogs I often see photographs of celebrities, scenes from movies, segments from television shows, and even long sections of text drawn from other sources. Did these bloggers actually take that photograph of Paris Hilton themselves? Were they there during the filming of Gone With the Wind and got that great shot? Did they have their camcorders rolling while visiting the set of The Office? Probably not. In most instances, these bloggers have copied these photos or videos from other sites and pasted them on their own sites without getting permission. This is illegal. Some bloggers may know this, but many, I venture to guess, do not.
Why don't bloggers get in trouble when they break these copyright laws? They don't get in trouble for three simple reasons:
1. No one notices
2. No one cares
3. No one complains
Let me give you an example. I investigated the nifty photo-sharing site called Flickr. This site allows members to upload their own personal photographs and to download photographs of other members, which may then be used on their blogs. When members upload their photos, they are asked to choose which type of copyright protection they desire. (Members may choose from six types of copyright protection as developed by the organization Creative Commons and which are described in Flickr's upload procedures). These six types of copyright are clearly explained, but my guess is that many, if not most, Flickr members pay little attention to these categories when they upload their photographs.
As I further investigated the procedures used at Flickr, I stopped by some of their forums. On one forum, I read a letter from an irate member who had uploaded a personal photo and was aghast to later discover this photo on someone else's blog. The forum moderator pointed out to this member that he had relinquished his control of his copyright when he uploaded his photo. Even so, the letter writer could not be consoled. He was obviously one of many members who did not consider the ramifications of uploading personal photographs to an Internet website such as Flickr.
This Flickr member who uploaded his personal photo without considering the fact that he was giving up his copyright, probably represents many other individuals who do the same. On the opposite side of this fellow's situation, are all those individuals who download material for their own use--particularly for use on their blogs. They do this without considering whether what they are downloading is protected by copyright laws stricter than those governing the images on Flickr, such as the huge number of professional websites, where bloggers probably snatch much of their material.
So, go ahead, those of you who are downloading material that is protected by copyright and not available for your use. You'll probably never get caught. Even if you do, the punishment probably won't be severe.
But this is what I believe: copyright exists to protect the creators of content. As bloggers we are content creators and thus, have a high stake in maintaining the integrity of the copyright system. We must abide by copyright laws both as downloaders and as uploaders, because it is the right thing to do. Someday we might have our work stolen. How could we justify complaining that someone has stolen our blog content, if we too have been guilty of theft?
Many of you who have been blogging much longer than I have, are probably aware of many legal, ethical, and user-friendly sites (such as Flickr) where bloggers can acquire wonderful graphics, photographs, and other content. I'd love to hear your experiences dealing with copyright and your blogs, and also your suggestions for legally acquiring material for your blogs.
1. No one notices
2. No one cares
3. No one complains
Let me give you an example. I investigated the nifty photo-sharing site called Flickr. This site allows members to upload their own personal photographs and to download photographs of other members, which may then be used on their blogs. When members upload their photos, they are asked to choose which type of copyright protection they desire. (Members may choose from six types of copyright protection as developed by the organization Creative Commons and which are described in Flickr's upload procedures). These six types of copyright are clearly explained, but my guess is that many, if not most, Flickr members pay little attention to these categories when they upload their photographs.
As I further investigated the procedures used at Flickr, I stopped by some of their forums. On one forum, I read a letter from an irate member who had uploaded a personal photo and was aghast to later discover this photo on someone else's blog. The forum moderator pointed out to this member that he had relinquished his control of his copyright when he uploaded his photo. Even so, the letter writer could not be consoled. He was obviously one of many members who did not consider the ramifications of uploading personal photographs to an Internet website such as Flickr.
This Flickr member who uploaded his personal photo without considering the fact that he was giving up his copyright, probably represents many other individuals who do the same. On the opposite side of this fellow's situation, are all those individuals who download material for their own use--particularly for use on their blogs. They do this without considering whether what they are downloading is protected by copyright laws stricter than those governing the images on Flickr, such as the huge number of professional websites, where bloggers probably snatch much of their material.
So, go ahead, those of you who are downloading material that is protected by copyright and not available for your use. You'll probably never get caught. Even if you do, the punishment probably won't be severe.
But this is what I believe: copyright exists to protect the creators of content. As bloggers we are content creators and thus, have a high stake in maintaining the integrity of the copyright system. We must abide by copyright laws both as downloaders and as uploaders, because it is the right thing to do. Someday we might have our work stolen. How could we justify complaining that someone has stolen our blog content, if we too have been guilty of theft?
Many of you who have been blogging much longer than I have, are probably aware of many legal, ethical, and user-friendly sites (such as Flickr) where bloggers can acquire wonderful graphics, photographs, and other content. I'd love to hear your experiences dealing with copyright and your blogs, and also your suggestions for legally acquiring material for your blogs.
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10 comments:
This is the thing about copyright... the law is only as good as those willing to police & enforce it. The "little guy" gets infringed more than anyone because he doesn't have the money to fight infringement.
Making people aware (as you are doing) will cause the uninformed to stop, but most people will just wait until an attorney contacts them to remove material, unfortunately.
Many of my graphics come from http://sxc.hu (free membership).
I didn't actually know what Flickr was till you just posted. I use graphics on my blog, but I do often wonder about the rights to it. Certainly something to think about.
Copyright law contains something called "fair use" meaning you can use small amounts of copyrighted works for certain enumerated reasons. So if I am writing a post about how much I love a particular movie and I include the official movie poster on my site, that should be covered by fair use. Try clicking pictures in wikipedia and you will get that type of explanation.
Jennifer,
I should have mentioned "fair use" in my post. Unfortunately, this concept does not really clarify copyright, it merely complicates it more. For instance, check out the U. S. Copyright Office's site on "fair use" at: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
Your keeping to the safe side, wise.
Dear Patricia,
A very interesting post. Yes, legally it is not right to use these pictures since they are protected by copy right.
However, as ypu mentioned, it's not worthwhile nor economical to pursue bloggers especially since they may be of different jurisdictions.
I believe at most, the blogger may receive an e-mail asking them to remove the images and apologize.
So, the usage of these pictures must be with due care. However, you are erring on the side of caution, which is a good thing.
When it comes to law, things are never quire so clear cut.
Rgds
My Blog:
http://wonderwealthwisdom.blogspot.com/
My DIL is a IP (Intellectual Property) Attorney and she said you really do have to be careful about what you use because although you may get away with it 99% of the time, there will come a time when someone wants to legally make a point and you're sunk.
She told me that I should be watermarking all my photos and so I bought a nifty little program called iWatermark, it's easy to use and should help me in the future ensure that my photos won't be stolen.
This is a very interesting topic though and I'll be checking back frequently to see what others say.
I don't use many graphics or pictures on my sites either. But it's because I find sites like that are really slow to load and I don't want mine to become slow loading.
I only use my own photos on my site. And I've often wondered by pilfering of photos from other sites is allowed. The music industry didn't have any problems coming after people downloading music for free. But the blogosphere may be just too big of a fish to catch.
Interesting post.
Here is a good article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation on the topic of Fair Use for blogs.
http://w2.eff.org/bloggers/lg/faq-ip.php
In reality, only a judge can decide if something is actually "fair use", however there are guidelines you can follow, and feel reasonably secure that your use would be considered "fair".
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