Robin Carlisle said
10 months ago: @lkellandmay Laura, you brought up a great point… about getting permission from “people”appearing in photos or the “owner” of pets and other property they own.
As a journalist, you learn you can always take photos IN a public place of anyone IN that public place. It’s public. The says they gave you permission by just being there — in that public place.
However, if a photo was taken on private property, you must get the permission of the property owner AND of anyone you photograph that’s the least bit recognizable in the picture. They have a right to privacy and a right to determine how their private image is used in public. They also have a right to charge money to use their image or sue you for money if they don’t want their image used at all. If you want to buy that “right,” you can get a license from them… but then things can get complicated.
This is the reason there’s ALWAYS been a major difference between a professional journalist/writer or photographer and a hobby blogger or cell phone camera Facebook poster. Both are held to same high legal standards, but usually only professionals know the difference and how to professionally cover their behinds by paying for the rights they need to comply with the law. It’s not a game. It’s truly a profession with very stringent legal rules, the violation of which is punishable by extremely cruel, huge fines and penalties.
The thing to remember when “borrowing” and pinning and posting photos online is that even if the “photographer” gives you permission to repost with or without attribution, if people or pets or private property are in the photos and the photos were obviously taken in a private place, then… well… the property owner has a right to privacy and a right to their property’s image and all is really up for grabs! (Remember, law says pets are property, too). Meaning… you can’t depend on anything, lol.
My recommendation, grab your digital camera or cell phone and go out to a busy public place for a day and snap away… people and all. That way you KNOW you both own your own photos and you also have the right to use and publish your own photos, without having to get permission from the people you photograph. It’s called journalism, folks. You can still get sued, but in the end the law won’t let them win… if you can afford to play that high-priced game and defend yourself.
Eeeeeeeckkk!!! No matter what you do, even with your own photos, you basically just have to get brave… if you want to use ANY photo… even your own, lol.
Not an attorney… and though half of my closest friends have been attorneys, sometimes I wish I didn’t know any. My personal attorney wrote Pullitzer-prize nominated book “The List,” about the 1980′s Wayne Williams “Atlanta child murders” which they turned into a week-long mini-series with Martin Sheen playing my friend, a former Deputy Crime Director who discovered a lot of the “murdered” children were still alive or that Williams could not have murdered them. Suffice it to say, my friend and I have had some pretty heavy discussions on journalism, public and private photos, privacy rights, and the right to distribute and/or receive payment for “private” images and photos. Probably one of the few who know for sure Williams didn’t kill the two men (not children) he was convicted of killing, my friend’s now dead… along with any hope Williams has of getting a new fair trial.
While most people on the internet just wanna use that dang photo they wanna use, there’s a looooooong history of crusaders who’ve fought hard for the rights we do have to photograph and use photos we take in public. The private arena, however, is NOT fair game. There is a price to pay… again, with a loooong history.
The list yall have put together should really help those professionals who want to stay professional and legal. Kudos for putting that together!
Robin Carlisle
