Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Pinterest May Not Be All it's Cut Out to Be

I know that most everyone who is blogging nowadays has a Pinterest account. I had kind of wondered a few times when pinning and repinning things how it was okay to be 'borrowing' these pictures from other people on the internet. Apparently, it's not. Check out the following article about how a lawyer/photographer dug into the terms of use at Pinterest to discover that YOU and YOU ALONE are responsible if someone decides to sue because you used their photo and didn't ask permission. And if they decide to sue you AND Pinterest, not only do you pay for your own lawyer, you pay for Pinterest's lawyer too. Really making me think about taking down my boards which I REALLY don't want to do!
Check out the article here.
How often do we sign up for stuff and not read all the fine print? Yup. I'm guilty. I'm really rethinking this one. So far, I have removed everything that might be construed as art pieces (photography, painted pieces). I figure tutorials are fairly safe because someone has posted them as something everyone can copy and do (within reason). It is also a way to get more people to that person's blog. I have removed all of my color inspiration pieces because most were from photography sites, etc.  I'm still debating taking the whole thing down, but I just really hate losing all of it. But I don't want to be like people who had Napster and were sued no matter what their age and no matter how many songs they took.
What are your thoughts?

3 comments:

✾Jamie Lee Cooley✾ said...

I have seen a few warnings like this on blogs. I don't really use Pinterest, but I do feel like people who post photos on the web to be viewed publicly should do so realizing that anyone could do anything with them. I do agree that no one should steal tutorials or use copyrighted material without permission, but sometimes the line seems kind of vague and the person who is the original poster should not have made it public domain if he/she doesn't want it shared. I am really interested in this topic and have been thinking about it a lot.

M-R Charbonneau said...

Hmm, I'll have to think this one through too. My initial thoughts though are that the link directly attributes the image to the originator and it is generally accepted that what you have pinned does not belong to you. To me, it's kind of like bookmarking, only in a visual way and may in fact, protect copyright because you can easily get to the source. When I pin something, I indicate who made the quilt or where I got it from. That's not always the case when I repin something though.

Where I think this differs from Napster or other file sharing issues is that I don't think that anybody is profiting (except Pinterest) or losing profit from this practice of pinning. If anything, it's a fantastic pr tool if there's buzz about your product or traffic generated to your site. I've yet to see anyone use Pinterest to trash anything or use it in a negative way.

I'd be curious to see what other people think too!

Richard Healey said...

When it comes to pictures and pintrest. If some one were to sew they would first have to request that you take down the image (while pintrest take it down) and you would have to refuse to take it down for a lawsuit to happen.

They would then have to show how you profited and how they lost money by you posting the image.

If you clearly link a picture from their site and do not take credit for the image and leave proper linking included you can not be held libel.

As for most sites they like the extra interest in their images. For me I would totally love any one to link each and every image on my site. It would generate interest in my site and get more visitors to come.

Any way just my 2 cents.

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