WHY NOT TO USE IMAGES YOU FIND ON THE INTERNET – IT'S ILLEGAL – YOU ARE STEALING!
IT'S NOT OK TO LINK TO JUST ANY SOURCE WHERE YOU FIND AN IMAGE ON THE WEB
Daily I read some posts with terrific well thought out content, yet I refuse to Upvote or Comment on them. Why? A quick click on the Image Source link, shows that the image was swiped from the web from some other website, Google, flickr, a blog, or even a stock photgraphy site etc.! I refuse to help someone make money off an image from one of my fellow stock photographers who is not making a penny from his/her work through this illegal usage of his/her image. And I refuse to support anyone who does not have enough decency to do the right thing!
I know that much of the Steemit community is happy as long as a source (even mickey Mouse) is listed, but it is still image plagiarism to list an incorrect source, and it's copyright infringement anyway, and downright illegal! I have heard arguments about Steemit being exempt from copyright laws because it is international in nature! Really? Steemit is a US based private company, and as such can be held liable for your irresponsibility! Any lawsuit against those who are using images illegally will affect ALL OF US ON STEEMIT!
By swiping images from the web and lazily typing Image Source, you are not just harming the original creator of the content, you are also potentially harming the ENTIRE STEEMIT COMMUNITY! So, you are being totally unfair to your fellow Steemians, when you violate the copyright of others on the web! You have no rights to any images unless they are clearly labeled with a Creative Commons license. Even then, there is a specific way that you must give credit to the photographer. I'm sorry if it takes you a few minutes to do this, but if you don't have the time to be doing it right, you should not be using the photography! It takes time and money to make photographs too, and you should respect that!
Even some whales and dolphins are swiping images, but it is a very dangerous game because a whale or a dolphin with a nice fat wallet is more likely to be sued and so spoil it for the rest of us who are doing things the right way! It's time that you decided to take a stand (you know who you are) and set an example for those new to Steemit, because they come on here and see that you are violating copyright, so they assume that it is OK to follow suit!
This is an excellent article called 10 Bogus Excuses To Use A Photo You Found On The Internet by a Canadian photographer. I could not have said it better myself! It has video too, if you prefer to watch it instead of reading!
Also, our own @timcliff posted this last year to show how vulnerable Steemit is. Next time, Steemit may not be quite as lucky!
This is not the first post I have written about this, and it certainly won't be the last. Typically, posts about copyright infringement and image plagiarism are not well read or Upvoted upon, because too many want to turn a blind eye, so thanks in advance to all who have bothered to read this post until the end.
Image © Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
Camera:Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens:EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Exposure: 1/125 sec; f/11; ISO 200
Post Processing: Adobe® Photoshop, Adobe® Camera Raw And Topaz Texture Effects
The following are some past posts I have written about the subject.
Photo plagiarism – How to avoid it
Hey Steemit – Royalty free images are not free images
Copyright – What does it have to do with you?
New Steemit logo is copyright
Stock Photography – Do I have the right to use it on Steemit?
Photographers – Let's educate others about correct image usage
Steemit – My key to long term success
Free photography on the web – Where to find it
How to avoid copyright violation and image plagiarism – How to effectively use Google Images
Thanks for taking the time to read this! I appreciate it. Please check out my photography-101 account here: https://steemit.com/@photography-101 and Follow if you wish. Shortly I will be making all my Photography101 posts from there!
Steem != Steemit
What if you use busy.org to browse the Steem blockchain? What if you use a local browser?
I don't understand your question. Have you posted this on the wrong post perhaps? if it is in the right place and I am missing something, copyright is copyright. :-)
Thanks for sharing! Links to your post were included in the Steem.center wiki articles about Copyright, Creative Commons and Including images in your posts. Thanks and good luck again!
Just had a look! That's a great resource. Thanks again!
That sounds interesting! I will have a look! Thanks!
Check out new tipuvote! feature :)
Another great write up on this topic @dmcamera. Thanks for putting in the effort to further raise awareness. Based on the comments its clear that it is still a confusing and unknown topic for many, and of course with each new group of people joining us we have more people who don't understand copyright law.
I find it surprising how many people think copyright is an opinion! I hope they don't find out the hard way through a lawsuit.
Thanks! As recently as last month, Alamy made a collection for me from an infringer. I did not even know that the image had been taken. I just got a surprise payment with explanation in my monthly statement! The agencies have a professional version of Tineye, and are constantly scanning the web for copyright violations. They take it very seriously, thank God! Those who pay the licensing fee are also being violated, because they trust that the image is only being used in certain ways! They are paying for certain rights that are often being violated!
What I omitted to say is the copyright is THE LAW, Believing you have the right to use anything you find on the Internet is OPINION!
There are 3 kinds of people in this regards in my opinion. There are those who are willing to learn and will not take images from the web anymore, because they have a moral conscience ; then there are those who may listen for a while and won't take images from the web because they are afraid of being caught; and then there are those who believe they have a right to everything they see and are not afraid of the consequences. I will never be able to change the minds of the second and third groups of people, but I can appeal to the consciences of the people in the first group.
yes, some people are beyond redemption. I remember someone ranting on youtube about getting sued for copyright infringement.. he was totally unapologetic and even annoyed it happened .. but not a hint about how he'd made a mistake or done wrong, he was just ranting about the injustice against him.. unbelievable.
Sigh! there's a comment at the beginning because someone Upvoted it, but I have no idea what it means! I was wondering if it was posted on the wrong post, because it doesn't appear to have any relevance to copyright infringement. Something about using Busy!
Yeah I don't understand that comment either..
Tip! And resteemed
Thank you so much! I click on every Image Source link, and I'm appalled that people don't bother to find out if they they have a right to use an image or not. 99.9% of the time they don't have the right to use it! When i see someone using an image with a CCO license and they take pains to properly give credit the way the license actually requires it, I Upvote, tip and praise them! Positive reinforcement! :-)
Yes I must start doing that also it’s a great idea
One today got me going to write this, because I recognized the stock image from one of my agencies! It was a great article, but it had a stolen image, so no way was I going to reward him. Maybe one of these days I'll start reporting them all. LOL! Maybe that's what it is going to take to waken some people up!
While you point out that it isn't ok to simply credit the source, and further point out that it is illegal to not credit the source, or to credit the wrong source, I am confident that linking to the source is entirely legal.
Links are what the web is built on.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding your comments on this matter.
Thanks!
Truth is that linking to a pictures source is not enough. If the creator of the art/photo/article etc. has not given permission to use the content, then you must curate the content.
Curated content is now a growing game online. If anyone curated content, they must add a significant amount of their own content to wrap around the content that has been curated.
This is why there's so much of the same type of content being posted online, 250 or more blog posts containing almost exactly the same content!
By the way, are you still involved in the #hardfork series?
Good to see ya!
I follow the principals, but have not been called upon to contribute.
It's an exciting production, and I am impressed with the personnel involved. I am sure that if they feel I can contribute, they will call upon me.
I'd point out that I inquired of you before even saving your work, despite your open offer of it for use for folks. I have no interest in stealing from creators.
If linking to source isn't sufficient to meet legal obligations for copyright, the entire internet is a crime.
Yes, you did inquire about the images that I offered.
I appreciate that you asked, not many people will.
Linking is ok. Swiping the image first is the illegal part. Lol!
You can provide just a link, but you can’t copy the photograph and then link. That's Copyright infringement. Pure linking without the swiped image being in your post is not considered copyright infringement, but no one does that. Everyone wants the free eyecandy of the actual image. If you copy an image and provide the CORRECT ORIGINAL SOURCE you have avoided plagiarism which is not illegal, but you have not avoided copyright infringement which is illegal! I think you did misunderstand. 😊
Very well said, Diane. I feel the same way. I also think that original images are undervalued. Some can take as much time to choose and process as writing text content. It is disappointing when I see "sourced" images in posts.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. Education is key, but it feels like a losing battle sometimes, because so many think they have the right to take whatever they see as long as they put that silly Image source Link. Even if an image is licensed, PROPER copyright information has to appear under the photograph!
Some stock images take hours, and sometimes days to prepare. I have spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on education and equipment over the years! A professional photographer's overhead is very high, although I've had to cut my expenses way back these days in order to make a profit. I no longer pay for models, as I don't photograph people for stock anymore, and I no longer pay for a studio or to photograph on someone's property, but expenses have to be taken into account when you run any kind of business.
And when I hear these people say that they have the right to take my work because it's on the web, I get a little worked up. I should also have the right to just take their writing too and make some money off it, right? What would they think if the shoe was on the other foot? Off my soap box now! As you can tell, i am quite passionate about this subject matter! LOL!
Completely agree; the original and own work is not valued enough, it takes a good time to make a beautiful shot and even more writing a favorable and good text that expresses well the meaning of said photo
Sneaky Ninja Attack! You have been defended with a 0.75% vote... I was summoned by @dmcamera! I have done their bidding and now I will vanish...Whoosh
Agreed.
I try to comment on those using images illegally and show them the 'right way' to go about things.
If they continue, I flag and report them. 😏
Here's my HELPFUL post on how to find LEGAL images. It's old. So don't upvote it. But the info is good. Feel free to share it to help others. 😍
💥 Game Changer! 💥 How to LEGALLY use Googled images!💥
Thanks! :-) I wrote a post about the same thing. I would go one step further and put the image that you have found on Pixabay into Tineye, because there is always the chance that someone (surprise! surprise!) swiped the image from somewhere and uploaded it there. Pixabay is not responsible for an end user using an image that is actually copyright material. It is caveat emptor (although no one is paying for anything. LOL)
I would love to see how you tactfully handle it. :-) Tag me sometime. LOL! It's easy enough to do with newcomers, but not at all easy when a whale or dolphin is doing it. Unfortunately, Steemcleaners does not handle copyright infringement, so we are on our own! They don't consider it plagiarism if ANY source is listed, and I don't agree with that. But, it's the best they can do for now, and I'm all behind them!
Oh. I would NEVER tell a whale what to do. Simply too terrifying. Just as in real life, MONEY rules. 😉
Normally, folks just have NO idea about stuff. I blame Facebook. Everything is just shared willy-nilly there and no one ever has to answer to anything.
And the plagiarism thing. Technically, if they AT LEAST site where it came from, most are happy enough with that. Until, of course, they notice possible rewards on a post with their image. Then, won't THEY just join the platform and get paid? And open communication with whoever shared their stuff in the first place? Wouldn't that just be a perfect world? 😄
However, you are correct. If the owner of said image WANTED to seek legal help, they could... but again, only if they took the proper steps to protect it in the first place. And I'm not entirely sure what that entails...
I did NOT know that about Pixabay! I'll have to be more diligent. I DO use Tineye ALL THE TIME. 😀
I have to check when I'm curating. I'd hate to accidentally miss something that was plagiarized.
There are TONS of free image sites out there, it's just a matter of ushering folks in the right direction.
The plagiarism in pics and words is pretty bad around these parts, but we can all help a little to protect ourselves.
Thanks for looking out!
Hehe! I thought you were gently chastising the whales too! Lol! I do it for the newbies on here, and often they don’t complain. I did make the mistake early on of reporting a whale to Steemcleaners, and boy did that not go over too well. The answer I got was that his time was too precious to be chasing after image ownership! What??
All the free sites have some stolen images on them, so everyone just needs to take a few extra minutes to make sure the images are not also listed on some stock sites. I have had to have some of my own images removed from such sites in the past. 😢
In a perfect world people would care about doing the right thing because of moral conscience. But we can’t change those people and how they think about right and wrong. We can just make it more difficult for them to succeed at the expense of others! I can’t even remember who the whale was. I was just spanking new, and thought I was doing a great job! At first I was reporting all the copyright violations till I learned that Steemcleaners don’t touch that! So, every now and again I write a post about it.
It seems to me that Facebook should be ripe for the picking, then, when it comes to copyright infringement.
Thanks!
I completely agree with you 💯
Thanks! It would be great to see Steemit as a place where only content that is created in a professional manner exists. We are a self policing community. So it’s up to everyone to take responsibility.