Recently I was looking for information about the Richardson garage sale by Pearl Harbor that I enjoy going to every so often. I wanted to know what time it was being held this Saturday. One of the sites that came up was my own, written last year which made me chuckle.
I also found a website advertising an eatery. One of the photos looked really, really familiar! Holey Moley! It was MY photo!
What really made me laugh after seeing my photo on their website were the words at the bottom:
"Content copyright 2013. All rights reserved."
I did dash off a quick e-mail to the person the site belongs to telling her to please ask for permission the next time she would like to use my photo and she wrote back quickly and kindly saying:
Therefore if you'd like to keep a special photo secure, I really think it would be best not to post it. Just a little cautionary word to all my friends.
I also found a website advertising an eatery. One of the photos looked really, really familiar! Holey Moley! It was MY photo!
What really made me laugh after seeing my photo on their website were the words at the bottom:
"Content copyright 2013. All rights reserved."
I did dash off a quick e-mail to the person the site belongs to telling her to please ask for permission the next time she would like to use my photo and she wrote back quickly and kindly saying:
"I didn't realize that. So sorry. I will tell the person helping me out that it belongs to you..."The fact of the matter is whatever you put on the Internet is not a secure place by any means. Any photo you post can be easily taken and reused. Sticking a watermark or signature on a photo can be removed using PhotoShop or other means.
"If you are going to this coming Saturday's garage sale, please introduce yourself and I will treat you to lunch."
Therefore if you'd like to keep a special photo secure, I really think it would be best not to post it. Just a little cautionary word to all my friends.
Thanks Kay but I have realized for a long time that any photo I use can be 'borrowed'. In fact, I have seen several on Pinterest already. Have you checked for any of yours there?
ReplyDeleteI should add that at least there they are given a link back to my blog.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny that the other blogger knows enough to right "Content copyright" on her blog but not enough to realize that lifting and published other bloggers' work is not OK.
ReplyDeleteBut at least you got a reply, Kay, and a nice one. Have a good lunch. :)
So true, so true.
DeleteKeep track of your photos because yours are really excellent.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Manzanita!
DeleteThat is a bit scary. Didn't know that about the watermark removal. I have borrowed non-copyrighted photos from Google Images but always state they are not mine. Google scans your blog and plucks your images out and they go into a general category for all to see. I saw a photo I had posted of my newborn niece right next to that of an exotic dancer with the same name. Once we hit publish, control is pretty much gone. Hope Copyscape is effective.
ReplyDeleteGood luck and hope you at least get a good lunch out of it.
I think that is really weird, Kay. But of course I do know that all my pictures are public once they go on my blog. I've found my own pictures sometimes, but usually they ask permission first! :-)
ReplyDeleteGosh Kay, imagine you finding this stuff! I'm glad you took it in good humour, as I don't think any harm was meant. Funny about your own post, well it was very informative! Sounds like it's time for you to write a Hawaii travel guide, seriously.
ReplyDeleteI guess you can take it as a compliment that your photo was good enough that someone wanted to reuse it. It will be interesting if you get to meet the person that used it.
ReplyDeleteKay - You're a pretty good detective. The more popular and famous you become, the more this may occur. Ever notice within Cloudia's photos, that she has her copyright line within them? They're usually at the bottom in a pleasant, undistracting color, as part of the photo, not at the bottom outside the perimeter. So nice that your pleasant "correction" turned into a lunch apology. Good Luck! DrumMajor
ReplyDeleteI never even noticed Cloudia's copyright line. Photos are still easy to borrow if somebody wanted to and is technologically creative. I don't think anything is safe once it's on the web.
DeleteAnd yes, she was awfully nice. She could have just ignored my e-mail, but she chose to be kind.
Deletethe inevitable nature of the internet photos I suppose.
ReplyDeletehow funny, the same goes for your words. I always consider it a compliment if someone wants to use my stuff but asking for permission is nice!
ReplyDeleteI ceased placing many of best photos on the web owing to just such issues. I frequently copy photos from Wikipedia and always put the source underneath.
ReplyDeleteSome folks want their photos spread around the web. A copyright is a copyright. I pay for a service called Zemanta which makes content specific photos available to me. The participants know their photos are used and I assume WP pays the owner some pittance.
Dianne
I tend to use more clip art than photos, and the photos I DO use aren't the greatest quality, so I doubt anyone would want to "borrow" them :-) Still, this is a good reminder to be careful what goes online.
ReplyDeleteRecently I needed information about one of our credit cards and remembered commenting about the perk on a finance forum many years ago. I googled my moniker and the credit card brand and it took me to my comments. Just like that...years later and many thousands of comments.
ReplyDeleteL...w
It's really amazing! Once it's out on the web, it seems to be there forever.
DeleteIf you are not profiting from using a photo, copyright really matters little. No harm, no foul applies.If you are making money from another person's copyrighted work, that is a serious matter.
ReplyDeleteMy attitide is that anything and everything I put out on the 'net is in the public domain. If I want to keep things to myself, postings, writings, comments, whatever, I just don't post them. I rather freely use material from You Tube and other sources too on my blog and Facebook. A lot of them have commercial content, which I don't endorse but which I figure are how people make money on their work.
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't it nasty out? Yuck. Im crouched in my office with the space heater on.
Would you believe the sun just came out? Wow! I'd better enjoy it since it's supposed to disappear again soon.
DeleteThe lady was right to take you to lunch because technically you can take her to court! Pleading innocent of the copyright laws doesn't hold much weight with those who create original items. I have attended seminars on this and it is very murky water. Never post anything that is not yours unless the page says you may if you link back to them.
ReplyDeleteWell, not I will get off the soapbox and thank you for commenting on my recent post. I love both Hawaii and Maryland...having lived both places and having friends in both places...I will add you to my blog roll.
Thank you, Tabor. That's very kind of you. I've also been reducing my photos a LOT so that if you enlarge them, it gets a bit blurry. Generally though, I just think it would be nice for people to ask before they borrow a photo.
DeleteWell, I guess everyone knows I post a LOT of photos, so I guess I just won't worry about it. I have Googled and found my own photos and blog posts in the list of sources.
ReplyDeleteI use Picmonkey to put my name on some photos that I post. Usually only the ones I think are good enough that someone might steal. But really, who can tell what might appeal to someone. Sad, isn't it?
ReplyDelete