stormitecture

There is a chronic misunderstanding of what is and is not allowed to be posted in regards to copyright.

It is rather disturbing that not only members but even moderators not only violate copyright law but also encourage the behavior

With rash of copyright lawsuits against forums and their owners and users, it might be in the best interest of the site to clearly state to members, moderators that any image on Google, Bing, Facebook, etc. is NOT free to use unless it is marked as public domain!

purplegrocerygogetter

http://support.google.com/websearch/...n&answer=29508
What u post is concerning, but does bother some.... So i have looked and found this...

purplegrocerygogetter

And this
http://askville.amazon.com/images-shown-google-image-copywriten-blogs/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=9389825

Outlaw Star

Honestly?! Who cares if we post pics for enjoyment, laughter, or discussion? This forum is a "family" forum where we all come here for tech, advice or to have a good time amongst friends. Just enjoy CF, its that simple.

odgreen

stormitecture

The problem exists for folks like myself who use the internet for business as is necessary, however someone takes that image from my site (or a google image search, etc.) and uses it on a forum, then other users of that forum copy and 'share' it, the exclusivity of that image diminishes and therefore is a loss of income. This has happened a lot inthe weather community and why I am sensative to the issue. However, copyright violations extend way beyond the weather world and is common, very common among the automotive world.

Usually, the forum has a terms of service that says it is allowed to use images as ot needs if submitted by the image owner. Theyhave to put that in the TOS because of the quote feature as on example. Without that, it in itself is a violation. However, if a member takes an image from say Google or Bing (see not below regarding links above) and post them here, most likely permission was not gained from the owner of the image.

Regarding the Google links above. While using the "advanced" tool of Googles Image search is helpful, it is not full proof. Some of my own images that I have NOT given open, fair use, or public domain permission for do show up. I, as the image owner determine the rights, NOT Google's algorythyms.

Why make the fuss? Well, a thread was introduced that explicitly said to post images that were not taken by you (the poster). Without accusing anyone of any direct accusation (because I did not know of the source or permission asked or given) I did post some facts about copyright and gave a link to the official government copyright office website so folks can read and protect themselves against lawsuits. Additionally, I figured that site moderators would see my posts and knowing the rules would at the very least warn (at large) the members. This also helps protect the forum as they have been found liable with recent cases.

Some took personnal offense. None was intended, however, I will defend myself when necessary (especially when terms like **** are used) and I will correct when someone posts incorrect information or laws. I also persuade the issue because apparently even a moderator felt it wasn't of concern, and may not have fully considered the situation.

I did want to contact the forum owners directly, but using the iPad App for the forum for a short time I had not found the means to connect directly. I figured that this post would be the next best thing as well as my own way of bring the issueto the attention to the membership as a whole.

I invite anyone and everyone to read the Copyright Office's website. (www.copyright.gov). Also, I also encourage those more interested to watch (if still online) the Harvard course on copyright. It was posted on Youtube. It is long, I believe 6 hours in total. Also, for those on twitter, follow @copyrightlaw for tons of links and information on copyrights.

SeriousOffroad

It is up to you to lock/prevent your images from being downloaded or copied. I've yet to see an e-commerce program that does not have the option to prevent copying images.

I'm about as HTML illiterate as they come and I was able to figure it out.

You can stop people from using your images with minimal effort.

FYI,
Read the fine print on sites like Photobucket, picsaweb, Tinypic, etc. Post em there and mark them public and anyone can access them and use them.

Watermarks are easy if you are really that **** about your pics.

The_ocho

What if you sell a product, like lets say a Cherokee bumper. A picture of your bumper is on your website. someone on this site copies it and posts it up here saying "I want this" or "what do you think about this bumper?" Are you upset that they stole your picture then, or is it free advertisement?

with that being said I'm not adding anything useful but just being a **** so I will shut up now

odgreen

Worst thread ever.....

The_ocho

/Thread

odgreen

As I see it he keeps cluster effing my thread so I'm going to do the same.

The_ocho

I think that people need to come to terms with the fact that with all this modern technology mumbo jumbo nothing is sacred and the only way you can keep anything from being freely distributed is to keep it locked away in your head and never let it out. Do you believe that WB will miss the $23 that they wont see because I downloaded a movie, or Lil Wayne will go hungry because I didn't pay for his CD. No! The priorities of society/people and this country are way out of wack.

But you know what... I will gladly stand behind my weapon and fight even kill for your right to ***** about someone using your picture.

purplegrocerygogetter

Well, I understand as where you have your concerns with your photos, but as you clearly stated about my links I posted, its not "full" proof? But it does protect us the users that are using that such tool. And if your images are showing up then maybe thats something on your end? Something you may have forgot to do when up loading then, trust me I do it all the time when sending files to my main server for processing. I think your really going over board with what is really going on, these are the same photos that you will find on facebook, myspace and twitter, and trust me I am not being a snot when I say this but have you got after Mark Zuckerberg the creator of Facebook or Justin Timberlake, he does own half of Myspace?

purplegrocerygogetter

Thank you FRANK!
But on another note, everyone should just chill out, a respect his photo rights, and not make another mess of yet another thread.

stormitecture

See, that is why you really need to read the governments website and other resources. Again, using google in any capacity (or Bing, facbook, youtube, etc. ) does NOT protect you, this site etc. See the fact that this site itself has advertising not only makes it a lawful violation, but also puts in in civil liability damages. At anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars PER IMAGE) it could be a major liability to the site. Additionally, members are not protected under anonymous surnames and such as in many (and probably all states eventually). Website/forum owners can be subpoena for IPs and any other identifying information.

As for html and various technics...well, that is where the trouble lies. Bottomline is ignorance of the law is not a defence. Regardless of technology, copyright ALWAYS falls to the image creator. I agree...somewhat, that I can take measures to prevent my images from being used. I try to mark my images with copyright. However, technology exist that can quicly erase that watermark with just a few clicks of the button in popular image processing software. It really only keeps the honest people honest.

Additionally, it is the fact that there are outfits out there that 'bait' just so they can sue. Forums have been targeted because of the 'relaxed view'. I reference Eastern US Forums as they had to deal with this. Granted that was moreso regard images of forecast model outputs, but auto forums are popular targets because it is easy to post an image of say a unique car or flashy car, or a future car. It, and perhaps even the text (like a blog) gets reposted. Said outfit lets a number of images get used and then they pounce. That is unethical, but in the end, they get the losses because the fact still remains...the law says that the creator is the sole owner of the image.

Part of this because when the image is reused, in many cases it is upto the violator to prove where it came from. In the case of images taken from Mike Hollingshead for example. His images have been pirated so much, and violators not keeping records, it is easy to collect damages when a violation occurs. He (and others)is a great guy, honest, but has collected thousands simply because the problem is wide spread.

It is pretty simple. Just don't post images that are not yours or you don't know if they are in e public domain. Fair Use does not apply to the forum (as mentioned, due to advertising, money is made from all content published on the site, by owners, moderators, members, etc.)