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My picture taken of one of the 83 old water fountains
in Paris then edited in PicMonkey |
SORRY! If you came looking for my IWSG post, sorry, it posted a day early so I sent it back to draft. If you haven't read this important post, you may like to read it before you go...
Links to Roni's post abound, as do re-postings. It's been a wake up call to many bloggers who 'innocently' decorate their blogs with what they thought were free Google images. Alas, they are not free - everything on the Internet is owned by someone and they are cached, so chances are you will eventually be brought to task. Hopefully you won't be sued like Roni was, but at the very least you'll receive a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice - Take it Down, or Else! One lawyer's blog states that you can be sued up to $150,000! *shiver*
I've received two DMCA notices, one from Google and one from an American firm hired by artists just for this purpose. Both were for photos I'd had up for over a year and forgotten about. (Notices can be issued years after you put up an image).
I've now gone through all my blogs and deleted any image where I wasn't sure of the copyright. Another option is to save to Draft if you want to keep an image to refer to.
In my DMCA notice from Google,(this was for a badge I'd posted for a blogfest for someone else, so that's another area of concern - do we need to assure everyone that the blogfest badge is okay to use?), I was told that if it happened again, there'd be penalties. From now on, I'll be using my own photos. I have literally thousands from around the world so why risk it? Further to this: Awards. Where do the awarders get their images from? The awardee will be liable if it's illegal and found on their blog.
I trolled through nearly 400 comments on Roni's blog and was quite shocked. I followed up some of the comments from the photographers and found they were true.
So this is what I've learned about Copyright Infringement regarding the use of, in this case, images, picture, photos, without permission.
In case you think this is boring and are about to move on, it seemed that the owners of these images many of us have been helping ourselves to are angry at us for stealing their bread and butter. Some are hiring firms to track their images down and issue infringement notices to illegal users. They, themselves, can do a simple Google search and find all the places on the net that their images have been used. You can use it too:
images.google.com
You drop the image in, and voila! (Well, that's what they said. I haven't been able to sort it out, but you're probably smarter than I am!)
HERE IS A SUMMARY OF WHAT I'VE LEARNED SO FAR:
- Assume that an image is Copyright Protected until proven otherwise
- The Copyright on virtually all photos belongs to someone - you must seek permission to use it/them
- If you don't know who owns the photo, don't use it
- Just because something is published on the Internet, it doesn't mean it's Public Domain - that only refers to a work that is 70+ years old
- In terms of law, ignorance is no excuse
- Never use pictures from Google Search. (This is where Roni's troubles began). Google passes on responsibility for copyright to the website where it is used (I used to think that if I did a Google Free Image Search it was okay to use - I've since removed all these 'illegal' images)
- If you get permission to use a picture, keep records, in case you still get sued (copyright changes hands)
- All pictures are the intellectual property of the creator
- Fair Use mainly refers to schools and other educational institutions, not the fact that you only stole 1 of 10 photos from a particular photographer
HERE IS WHAT RONI LEARNED ABOUT FAIR USE (re-posted with Roni's permission):
It DOESN'T MATTER...
- if you link back to the source and list the photographer's name
- if the picture is not full-sized (only thumbnail size is okay)
- if you did it innocently
- if your site is non-commercial and you made no money from the use of the photo
- if you didn't claim the photo was yours
- if you've added commentary in addition to having the pic in the post
- if the picture is embedded and not saved on your server
- if you have a disclaimer on your site.
- if you immediately take down a pic if someone sends you a DMCA notice (you do have to take it down, but it doesn't absolve you.)
NONE OF THAT releases you from liability. You are violating copyright if you have not gotten express PERMISSION from the copyright holder OR are using pics that are public domain, creative commons, etc.
SOLUTION
None of us wants an image-free blog, so what's the solution?
USE YOUR OWN IMAGES
In these days of digital photography,it's easy. At the very least use your camera phone (they're so great and always at the ready.) Take your own photos, then use free editing software to pretty them up, add text, shapes etc.
I was a great fan of Picnik until Google+ took it over and called it Creative Kit, joined at the hip with Picasa. Kept most of Picnik's bells and whistles but no frames available. I recently found PicMonkey which is pretty good, fun, easy to use, but restricted re font choice (Creative Kit much better here). I have fancier programs such as Corel Draw and Paint Shop Pro but they are too unwieldy if I just want a quick edit.
You can also offer your photos on Flickr and other photo-sharing sites for use by others.I'll do this if I ever find the time!
Further to that, believe it or not people often have to prove the photo they've used is theirs. If your camera doesn't have time, date, place embedded on your photos, how do you prove you own it? It sounds crazy to me, but if you google 'eiffel tower' you'll see lots of practically identical photos taken by different people. Buildings don't change much.
CREATIVE COMMONS?
CC on Flickr - Search: http://www.creativecommons, or http://www.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Usually if you find an image you want in CC, you have to link to the source. Use CC with great caution as some of these images may be stolen and shared illegally anyway. Also rights change hands.
Check out: Joleene Naylor - flickr.com/photos/pandora_6666 and
kuriositas.2012
Remember, Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket etc are photo sharing sites - no guarantee of provenance of photos.
USE LOW-FEE PHOTO-SHARING SITES - costs start at $1.00 (Crucial for book covers etc)
www.shutterstock.com
www.istockphoto.com
www.dreamstime.com
www.fotolia.com
www.stockfresh.com
FREE PHOTO-SHARING SITES
morguefile.com (no attribution needed)
wanelo
ciker.com
alanayers.com (My favourite - fantastic for romantic, suspense, scenes and general photos - only free if you're not making money out of the image and you attribute. For commercial use, you pay).
MICROSOFT OFFICE CLIP ART is still there too.I'd nearly forgotten they existed.
BOOK COVERS
Roni got a gazillion questions from book reviewers re the legality of using book covers. This was generally accepted as okay as what publisher would sue you for publicising their client's book? On the other hand, someone was probably paid to create the cover and may get snarky. Hmm.
YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
There was no definitive answer to this one. I'm not a great fan of putting up videos on my site as they slow it down too much. I was under the impression that if the youtube video could be embedded,it was okay to use. Sometimes there is a copyright notice on a video and you can't embed it. Do you have any info on this one?
PINTEREST/TUMBLR:
So...the furore created by Roni's predicament highlighted the danger of Pinterest and Tumblr, (luckily I've resisted their siren call), where images are pinned from anywhere and everywhere. There were suggestions to google this phrase: 'Why I tearfully deleted my Pinterest inspiration'. Pinterest's terms and conditions state that legal liability of pinning is 100% on you, the user. Plus you have to cover 'their' legals if someone sues them!
CHECK OUT THIS SITE - I'LL LET A LAWYER HAVE THE FINAL SAY TODAY:
There is a lawyer/indie author/legal guru called Ruth Carter who has an upcoming book - The Legal Side of Blogging. It's sure to be a bestseller when it's released. Meanwhile you can check out her tips on her blog. So much info! (The latest post is about her issuing a DMCA notice to Google for a blogspot user who'd stolen a photo from her site.)Ouch!
Rush on over here after you leave a comment, of course. I really want feedback on this post.
carterlawaz.com/blog/
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Created using a Kakadu photo of Australian Aboriginal Rock Art, edited in
PicMonkey - no copyright on ideas, Ruth Carter. Or is there? |
- What do you think of this debate?
- Do you have a favourite photo-sharing site?
- Have you ever received a DMCA notice?
- What photo editing programs do you like to use?
Now your mind is racing along and you'll be thinking of your favourite stories - yes, their sense of place is all-embracing. It encompasses not only the physical, but the socio-economic, the cultural, the physical, the language, the politics, the weather, the mood of the place. (And if you're writing fantasy and you're creating a whole world, you need to think about all these things too. If your world boasts triple sun, you've got to know how that affects the people, the seasons, how the shadows are cast.)
