@atlantarobin This is what is seriously wrong with copyright laws. 

And photographers are the worst for trying to enforce them, just behind the movie and music industries. 

This is where the laws and how the internet and social media fundamentally work clash – and I am on the side of the internet. 

Russell

@russellallert Tis also true that most recording artists, whether film or music, were grossly denied their just rewards for their works. 

It took so many years and so many fights to win them back their freedoms from unjust takings, from unjust theft of their works. Many have died penniless, too late to collect their righted wrongs.

Now we have the internet, where artists of all kinds have the freedom to act independently, sell their own works, and do so without the corrupt intermediaries, if they so choose.

To now say that social media and “the people,” all people, now have a right to steal from them directly is to say that I now have a right to steal the beautifully hand-carved wood furniture my neighbor lovingly displays on his front porch. 

In the name of “socialist” media, is it now my right to steal that, too?

Robin

I agree with Robin. Artists, musicians, photographers…… should be fairly rewarded for their work. Pinterest should police it themselves to safeguard their business rather than put the onus on the pinner. I’m certainly going to look through my pins.

@atlantarobin @russellallert

It’s a fine line here. While I have certainly done some bands a good deed by burning a mix tape (or CD, or thumb drive) that includes their music for a friend, I didn’t actually have the rights to do so.

Even worse is when someone uses music, photos, video, art, etc. that they have no rights to for commercial purposes.

For example, if I “share” a bunch of phenomenal photos to increase my Pinterest following and drive traffic to my e-commerce site, is that any better than Home Depot illegally using the Black Keys music w/o permission in their ads?

My recommendation for photographers: put your watermark on your photos that you put online if you don’t want them shared w/o attribution.

It won’t solve all problems, but it will cut down on theft and give you more visibility.

You folks may find this video on the subject entertaining.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAmmtCJxJJY&feature=relmfu

Sharing denotes ownership… you always have the right to share what you own. The law assumes you have that right.

The law also assumes you have legal notice of what others own. That means if you know you do not own a thing, then you have the duty to find out who does own that thing and ask permission from the owner to use it, to share it, in the way you would like.

I think that is pretty simple. Just because time and technology have advanced to the point where technology can recreate the image or sound of a thing (a tangible object) without actually being the thing, does not mean we have the right to “share” or steal the thing without asking permission.

I’m always amazed at how complicated people can distort something when they want what they want when they want it without paying or asking permission to use a thing they know is not theirs to have or to use.

We grow up going to a school where the “fair use” doctrine for “educational purposes” allows our teachers to share ideas and photos and music with us for free. That’s lawful and every rights owner agrees it is for the good of all we use that information and the free expression and exchange of ideas to help educate others in a no holds barred, no ideas barred environment. This is a nonprofit environment and a charitable act by all rights owners contributing to the education of the world.

What has happened, since technology has sped up all processes without taking time to educate everyone, is that students have grown up thinking all that information was “free,” when actually much of it was only conditionally donated as long as it was used strictly for educational purposes. The second any of those informational things — photos, graphics, music, writings — were used for commercial purposes, the wishes and the rights of the owners were ignored and their “freebie” permission was revoked. 

If you don’t know what your “right” is to use a thing, don’t use it. If you don’t own a thing, don’t use it. If you don’t know whether you own a thing, I’d bet money you don’t own it.

The only person or corporation who has the right to use or give permission to use a thing is the person or corporation who owns the thing. Do you have the right to share a thing you don’t own? To “share” a thing you don’t own is to steal a thing from it’s owner and give it to another person. To justify that, under any stretch of the imagination, is to turn the concept of the Ten Commandments, copyright law, contstitutional property rights law, and the basic concept of decency upside down.

To those who think sharing a thing you don’t own without permission or payment is not stealing, I must ask whether you think it would be ok to go to the home of the person who owns the original thing and take the orginal thing away from them without payment or permissions would be ok, too. What convoluted logic would tell you that would be okay? The latter is a criminal act with possible felony charges that could take away your right to vote in this country if the value of thing is more than $500, not to mention the prison time involved. 

YouTube has now made it possible to monetize all user channels now. If you plan on doing that, understand that you are now engaging in commerce and can no longer even claim “fair use” status in “sharing” things that do not belong to you, even if you don’t think you’re in business. 

If you are “sharing” things that don’t belong to you on the internet (or any other place), you have already been given notice of all your rights in advance. All these excuses for stealing are getting very old. Theft is theft. Having millions of people chime in to support a “socialist” mantra that all property should be turned over to the masses and that capitalism, property rights, and other law-abiding freedoms be damned is not something new. It is very, very old… and still just as frightening… watching it overtake the minds and methods of so many young people who do not yet see how they are undermining their own future economic survival.

Please notice the very bold and long introduction to the “evolution” video Michael shared. They obviously received permission to use the photos in that film. The owner of those photos had the right NOT to have their photos used in the film, but they CHOSE to allow it, whether for payment or not was not revealed. This is just. 

In a free land such as ours, we can not give in to any government or movement that chooses theft and feigned ignorance as a way of profit. As long as the creator of a thing lives and until such time as his minor children can fend for themselves, HE and his children deserve protection from the mobs that would rob them blind and leave their families penniless. How can any thinking or caring person think otherwise?

If you don’t know about all those “rights,” and are too overwhelmed even to think about it, then just walk away and leave the man’s “thing” alone. But don’t be claiming ignorance when you steal from him. 

@atlantarobin robin,  great points….someone  should  tell pinterest… 

seriously ..but  why  do  the millions of pinterest  users ignore it? and  social media  gurus   tell you how to pin other peoples  stuff? …. and  why would someone put their picture on  pinterest if they didnt want it shared?   thats what pinterest is about……

in  reality i  have to figure  about anything i put on the internet is  going to  be  available  to  whoever….

@claudiapoeckl we design furniture and put the pictures on the web….. i dont  want anyone to steal my  FURNITURE  but  i know   the pictures will probably   be  shared  influencing other   carpenters and people in   my  world….. 

I think there will be some huge lawsuits from Pinterest. In the end I think that we’ll end up with a law that says anything on the internet is in the public domain and basically one can’t expect any privacy on the internet. (Which is what I’ve said from the beginning.) I tell all the photographers I work to watermark their images.

@amyhallbiz thats  how i look at it too….. im  not  too worried about  pinning  within pinterest….but like  claudia  said  a little more  worried about the  risk of   using much on  my   commercial places….

of  course  pinterest is a  commercial place too!!!