Tags
borrowing, copying, copyright, Copyright infringement, creative commons, fair use, Google Images, reblogging, stealing
The internet and social media have opened a Pandora’s box of sharing without caring. It is so easy to right-click and ‘save as’ or to copy/paste convenient content. Today I have permission to share an excellent and informative post from Zeebra Designs & Destinations that explains what is wrong with using copyrighted material without permission. And yes, if I wrote it, it’s copyrighted. If you wrote it or snapped it or coughed it up, it is copyrighted. I encourage you to read this entire post and as much of the discussion that follows as you can. Zeebra’s links are also very helpful.
In addition to Zeebra’s information, here is another link about Fair Use and Creative Commons. http://janefriedman.com/2013/07/15/the-fair-use-doctrine/
Rangewriter 
Thanks for the excellent coverage of copyright and how easy it is to infringe, Rangewriter. In my TV shows and now on my blog I’ve often needed images I did not have the ability to go take photos of myself. I found Wikimedia a great resource. Click on the image and it will tell you exactly the copyright it is available under.
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Great tip, Wahoo. Thanks for weighing in.
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thanks amiga! someone contacted me this past week about a plagiarism issue she was having with someone who stole her content and put it on facebook and received thousands of hits. they were not respecting her wishes to remove the content. we were both researching that particular problem, and i found John Bailey’s very helpful site: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/about-plagiarism-today/about-the-author/
presently the connection here is slower than a snail, so i’m shutting it down until late tonight.
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Thanks, Zeebra. I’ll be watching PT’s site. Good information there. It seems that WP needs to do something to tighten the rules of the Reblog button. I think that shows up on everyone’s feed (public feed, at least.) Seems like it should be an option, like the FB, Twitter, email and others are. That said, if someone has a “share button” on their site, it seems like tacit approval for anyone to share that content on those platforms. Am I mistaken about that? This is a really important topic that needs as much exposure and dialogue as we can get for it.
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Wow, Linda. I’ve just read the links in the links and am wondering about Pinterest. I have several boards and we all repin each other’s pins. I thought the whole point was to create a commonplace for sharing and that as long as credit is given it was fine. I’m wondering if I should continue that practice. What if the original posting was not handled correctly? There is a lot of food for thought here.
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I admit, I’m baffled by all of this. I, too, thought that more shares translates into larger audience, which is what we all seek, I thought. But in poking around, I have discovered that I think those spammers that WP is so good at hiding from us, sometimes abscond with stuff and post it as their own. I suspect that is the crux of the problem. But even there, I can’t get my panties in much of a knot because doesn’t everyone recognize that sort of spam by now? But I’m just not sure how it all works.
I also figure that if someone puts share buttons on their blog, they are asking for a larger audience. That is a strictly voluntary thing which to me means, help spread the word. And the share buttons always show the original data for the post that’s being shared.
The reblogging…that’s what I don’t have a handle on at all. The button is on everyone’s WP site, so, it is not a voluntary thing. And I discovered when I went to Reblog Zeebra’s post, Her whole page came up first, before my own introductory paragraph, so that really doesn’t look bad.
I’m confused but will be keeping my eyes and my mind open on this subject. Please let me know if you learn anything more coherent.
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I get most of the images I use from Wikipedia which also has full rights information listed for each. Although I once used a photo of a painting off an artist’s website but I gave full credit as well as information about how to buy a print and a suggestion they go to the website as well. She wound up leaving a really nice comment and thanked me for the exposure. But it’s a whole ‘nother step to ask for permission FIRST! I feel so disrespectful now. And confused! I wonder if anyone has plagiarized anything of mine? I’d be pissed.
Thanks for this one Linda and Zeebra. Very important!
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I can’t remember how, but I did find what looked like traces of spammers having kyped some of my stuff. Have you googled keywords to your posts just to see what turns up?
I’ve always tried to find any attributes possible for images I use from the web. Some of those open-ended image conglomerates provide very little, which, of course worries me because I wonder how the images got there in the first place. A name + .com after it worries me, but I’ve used those. But I do know of some bloggers who pulls stuff off the net willy nilly w/o any thought as to who took or drew the image. It’s all a slippery slope.
Sent from my iPad
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The floodgates are wide open, Linda, and have been for some time. My kids were all downloading music and movies a decade ago — despite my protests and warnings that what they were doing was illegal, or at least unethical. Try telling a teenager today that he should stop amassing free entertainment. He won’t know what you’re talking about. The new morality says that if you can reach it, then you own it. I’m amazed every day by bloggers who use images that still have the stock photo company’s stamp right across the middle of them. They’re telling the world: “I took this without paying for it.” As I said, it’s the new morality.
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I think a lot of this has to do with inexperience and ignorance. At one time, journalists were professionals, trained rigorously about the perils of plagiarism. But now that publishing has blown wide open for the every day Jane and Jimmie on the street, many of these lay people really haven’t considered what they are doing and how it relates to theft. That’s why I think it’s important to keep the conversation going.
As far as the younger generation goes, I’m seeing within social media an emerging understanding of how devastating it is to have your work stolen. As your kids, and others begin delving into how to make a living on their own talents, they will come to understand this concept. And with fewer people working for “the man” and more trying to go it on their own, it will be a steep learning curve.
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Great article and reminder. Sometimes I don’t even know I clicked to share something, by accident, such as from Goodreads to Facebook. Books get added to my “list” with out my knowing how they got their. (I will have to research how to eliminate an automatic share to FB every time I list a book on my list. Apps get added to my cell phone, for a fee, that I must have accidentally clicked on. Because of my frustration with some of these issues, I posted a blog about wanting to move to a cave, to escape all things electronic.
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I think what you describe as sharing between Goodreads and FB is a bit of a different thing, in that the sites are simply sharing your own content across platforms. This is a setting. The more social media you use, the more you will be asked and encouraged to share across the board. But the issue of plagiarism is a little different. In this case people right click an image they like and paste it into their own blog or whatever without prior permission, and sometimes without even attributing the original writer’s or artist’s name. We never got away with this type of thing in high school English. But it has become so prevalent on the web that sometimes we don’t even think about what we’re doing.
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True, thanks for pointing out the differences, and the important reminders.
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Isn’t that a bunch of excellent information? Some of my writing courses put the fear of Whatever in my brain regarding copyright, but those courses took place before the Internet existed. So these resources confirm my suspicions, for sure!
One of my posts went semi-viral in Japan – it contained a photo of a colt. It was not my photo and I had tried to find the originator. Even though my instincts said no-no, it was the only reason for the post. I deluded myself with the fact that I’d spent a good chunk of time trying to find the originator. When I saw the attention the post received, I took no delight whatsoever. There’s no point in using anything that didn’t come from me.
In fact, Linda, whenever I do something that I know is not 100% okay, something like this has happened. Most times when I’ve said something frightfully horrid about another person, something pulls me up short. Like the time I turned around and ‘she’ was standing just behind me, listening to every word.
Yes, thanks, Deansgreatwahoo!
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Isn’t it funny how some people just can’t get away with anything?
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