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General - Off-Topic Chat: What does copyright on an image posted in the internet mean?

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      CommentAuthorshuva (Admin)
    • CommentTimeMay 28th 2008
     
    This thread is to get the opinion of members about what they feel about copyright infringement of their images posted in internet. Think about this :

    Once a picture is posted in the internet it is meant to be viewed by others. It does not imply that the viewer needs to use a browser to view it. Any software/device that can connect to the internet is free to view it. Nobody said that the software/device cannot make a local copy of the image (technically to view, it much load into its memory which is a local copy). Does this software/device violate copyright?

    You may say that unless the software/device makes commercial use of your images, its OK. But that particular software/image could be making money for just allowing users to see images in the internet.

    You may also say that copyright means that nobody have the right to make changes on your image and display it in their site. All search engines, including Google do that. They create thumbnails of your image (which is a manipulation of your art) and post it in their site without asking you. They also earn lot of revenue by just doing that. So why cant any other website do that if they provide the link to the original image.

    So does it mean that once I post an image on the internet, people have right to do whatever they do with my image as long as it is publicly known what is being done on that image? This does not sound right. Who defines the line?
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      CommentAuthorbsurprised
    • CommentTimeMay 28th 2008
     
    You opened a very interesting subject, Shuva.
    I believe that we still have issues about copyright being kind of subjective. We decide how we allow our pictures to be published and who can do what with them. And still don't care if viewing means copying of course, or take Google for granted.
    But I also believe tht Google or other search engines have a policy for people to be able to request a removal for whatever copyrighted items they want, and keeps the law on his side. I think it's all a matter of playing with words in the law. And as it's not so clear for people like me, it still means fights over rights.
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      CommentAuthorshuva (Admin)
    • CommentTimeMay 29th 2008
     
    You are right when you say "We decide how we allow our pictures to be published and who can do what with them." But once the picture is on the internet, we hardly have any control over it. If we see a person selling our images directly, it is 100% violation of copyright. There are rare, and whats more common is those like search engines or other internet utilities which walk on the thin line.

    Without your permission---
    --- If I post only a link of your image on my website is it OK?
    --- If I my web page shows your image hosted on your website, is it OK?
    --- If I make a copy of the image into my webserver and show it on my website, it is OK?
    --- If I download all the images from Aminus3 into my local home machine for my collection, is it OK?
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      CommentAuthorhelen
    • CommentTimeJun 8th 2008
     
    Shuva, no one likes to hear what you are saying, but, let's face it it is all true. I have always had the philosophy that "if you post it ... it's public". I do not have the skills to avoid skillful technical theft. I have never posted my best images. I have also started degrading picture quality with my own home-made frames. I think the issue you have raised here is an important consideration and perhaps most applicable to people who have the Am3 A+ membership.
    • CommentAuthorghorse
    • CommentTimeJun 10th 2008
     
    Dear Shuva,

    My 2 cents on your questions go like this:

    Without your permission---
    --- If I post only a link of your image on my website is it OK?
    It is mostly welcome.
    --- If I my web page shows your image hosted on your website, is it OK?
    It is mostly welcome if it have a link to my photoblog.
    --- If I make a copy of the image into my webserver and show it on my website, it is OK?
    It is mostly welcome if it have a link to my photoblog.
    --- If I download all the images from Aminus3 into my local home machine for my collection, is it OK?
    It is mostly welcome. As long as the use is not commercial.

    To me posting image in the web is to attract more people to look at my work. If this is not the intent, I would just keep all images to myself. I think the search engine is helping me to achieve this if the google-analytic report is true. As the report shows me about 25% of the view is from google/organic or referral.
    • CommentAuthorkevwil
    • CommentTimeJun 12th 2008
     
    Totally my opinion, and an idealistic one at that, but I think I give permission to *view* my images by posting them online. Any other use, any at all, other than viewing my image is not cool unless I put the image under a Creative Commons license or other similarly explicit license. Download all my images and look at them all you ('you' as in humanity, not 'you' Shuva) want, but please ask before doing anything else.

    That may be what a lot of people wish were the case, but we ultimately can't control that very well. It seems that without using explicit licenses on photos, it's just an honor system that works most of the time.

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