A few weeks back we had quite a discussion about using photos from the internet as well as from fellow bloggers.
I’ll be the first one to tell you that I don’t make the extra effort to protect my photos with a copyright mark. I have a copyright caveat at the bottom of the blog and that’s as far as it goes.
This isn’t a hugely popular blog with tens of thousands of readers so I don’t worry too much about someone stealing my work.
Besides, how easy is it to take a photo and cut a copyright out?
No, this isn’t Delilah, this is Freighter from the 2 Brown Dawgs blog. The blog information was in the grass just below Freighter’s feet. I cut it out. (This photo was used with permission from 2 Brown Dawgs.)
The whole copyright issue dawned on me this past Follow-Up Friday when Beth said, “So if I understand, what you did was just add the copyright line in text on the photo? I get that…in fact, I’ve figured out how to do it with Pixlr, which i think is similar to PicMonkey…So I should just add text to any photos I post on the blog and that will deter unauthorized borrowing.”
Except that I’ve just shown you how easy that is to get around, right?
I think what you need to do to protect your photos, is to add a watermark to it.
Dictionary.com defines watermark as “A figure or design impressed in some paper during manufacture, visible when the paper is held to the light.”
The obvious solution is to add your text to your photo in a place where it can’t be cropped out.
Nobody would want to gank this photo, would they? But it does take the cuteness factor down.
If we manipulate the text, we can add it, but make it so faint, it’s hardly discernible. Can you see the mark? Hint: it’s right across the top of Sampson’s head, between his ears. (I could probably have gone a bit darker.)
Now the question becomes, is it really necessary to take this type of precaution with our photos?
And to go a step farther, what about our words?
During that discussion many weeks back the term “Creative Commons” was mentioned by Lexy from Gone For a Walk and Pamela at Something Wagging This Way Comes.
If you don’t know what Creative Commons is, quite simply it’s your permission for how others can use your work. I took some time yesterday and added a Creative Commons button to my side-bar.
My Creative Commons says any of my photos or words can be used Non-Commercially as long as you give me credit.
Is it too easy? Or am I too trusting? What types of precautions do you take with your precious work?
Love it. I used to use images from the internet all of the time until I read a story of one blogger going through litigation hell after she used a photo (and gave credit) on her blog. So, now I try to use only my pictures. But, I hadn’t thought about people using mine. I think I might add a watermark to mine like Carrie does with Tales and Tails. I could do the creative commons thing too, but I’m not sure how I feel about people using my photos unless they ask me. Hmm… much to think about.
I think it has to be a personal decision as to how you (and others) use your work. Do you know what Carrie does? Maybe I can contact her and see if she’ll share. 🙂
I think that no matter what we do, there are clever people with ways around it.
You got that right Caren!
I guess this is rather an important issue but one I have not given much time to. I don’t do anything to copyright any part of my blog. When I first started out blogging I would take pictures from various places on the internet as long as I did not see any text that told me not to. Sometimes I would link the picture to the site, but not always. I almost exclusively use my one photos now. I don’t think I really mind if people take my photos, althought I think I am a bit more protective of my words. Perhaps I should look into the whole Creative Comments thing.
I’ve read somewhere that blogs are automatically copywritten, but I’m not sure how it’s enforced. My biggest concern would probably be using a photo or my words for something I didn’t endorse.
I’m very thankful when people post videos or photos with a Creative Commons license so I can use them. Let’s face it, my pictures stink. My videos are worse. So it’s great when people are willing to share freely. It makes my blog better.
That’s the big reason I allow people to use my text and photos with attribution. It’s a gratitude thing.
Most bloggers share where they found something anyway.
The problem are the skanky spammers who hide links in stolen text or use your search engine juice to drive people to products. But life is too short to worry about them. They’re going to be A**holes no matter what. I don’t have time in my life to try to outsmart 19 year old spammers. So I don’t.
BTW, this is an important discussion. Thanks for making it so accessible.
Copyright is changing and bloggers need to be part of the discussions.
Life is too short to worry about them.
Well I think we are always going to have to deal with skanky spammers. Truthfully I don’t see what they get from it, I was at a Twitter party when the spammers were just vile, no-one was responding to them but they still persisted. For what, I don’t know.
I don’t have the best pictures or videos either, but I don’t mind people sharing as long as they give credit. 🙂
Yes, I think we all need to be aware of copyright and how it affects us. thank you for joining in the conversation.
I add copyright to deter unauthorized borrowing and if I do find someone has borrowed and removed the copyright, then perhaps I can take action, ie complain to the host, etc. I started adding mine when I found someone posted a picture of my dogs on a chessie site without giving my site credit, even though it would have been very simple to do that. Anyway, I am not obsessive about it, but I figure most people who “borrow” pictures won’t take the time to remove the copyright and maybe I get a few extra hits to my blog. 🙂
You would think a copyright would deter people, wouldn’t you. 🙂 But people intent on stealing or creating harm will find a way.
Did you complain to the host of that site and did they take your picture down?
Well, mom is far from taking any professional photos…she does an ok job most of the time but if someone steals one, no real big deal because she is not making money from them. We put the copyright with my website on the photos partly to make people think twice before “stealing” and partly so they know about my website and maybe will go there and become followers. We post the pics all over on social media so not everyone knows about my blog site. That is our take on it and in the end, we just hope people enjoy our pics and don’t do anything bad with them.
I agree Emma, for the most part Blogville is a wonderful place, it’s when we step out into the big wide web where it gets dicey.
I add a copyright to my photo’s, but like you said, it can be easily removed. I’m not sure there is a real way to keep people from stealing your stuff if they want to bad enough.
I think you’re right.
Good Morning! I’m like you, Jodi. Just some steps behind b/c I haven’t even taken the steps to add a watermark to my photos or a “creative commons”. By the way — on my iPod at least — I can’t see the watermark on Sampson’s head. That might change when I get on the laptop where I have a much larger screen to look at. As for too trusting? I tend to trust individual readers more than I do corporations like Facebook, but maybe that’s being naive too?
I think we’re following the same thought process Sue, I do trust my readers, it’s the sneaky people I don’t care for. 🙂
The copyright is very light, it’s hard for even me to see it! LOL
I never mind when my FURENDS use any of my Words or Pictures… in fact I am flattered by it… BUTT when someone STEALS stuffs and tries to say it is THEIRS… that is NOT NICE….
We admit that We have “Borrowed” thingys from our furend’s blogs… butt NEVER fur a Mean or disrespectful reason. Not fur BAD reasons.
HOWEVER, we do live in a NEW WORLD… where this happens all the time…
If you Never want your stuffs used… we guess you should really never publish them…beclaws fur SURE if somebuddy WANTS to STEAL… they WILL DO IT.
We are really Trusting. Since we don’t STEAL, we TRUST that others wouldn’t do it either.
This is a tough issue fur sure.
It is wrong when someone says something is theirs that really isn’t Frankie. I think we all borrow things from other blogs and most everyone I know always gives credit where it is due. On the rare time that someone forgets they normally acknowledge it in a future post. I’m like you, I like to be honest and upfront with people and I expect that others are the same, but that’s not always the case.
I had a lot of posts stolen from me without credit years ago, but I think most people just thought if something was on the internet, it was free for the taking. It hasn’t happened the last few years as people understand the “rules.”
As for pictures there is a software program that can keep them from being copied without permission. Anyone concerned about having pictures stolen might invest in that.
I think the internet has really evolved and become a whole lot more than was expected and I think most people who use it are good and honest. But of course there is always someone…do you know what that software program is Jan?
I started watermarking my blog photos when a fellow blogger alerted me that they saw my pictures on another site being sold. It really upset me, it wasn’t just pics of the dogs, it was pics of the kids and wedding photos-so I was all over it. I watermarked my photos for awhile after that but then I stopped because it took a lot of time. I really want to start doing it again!
That is awful Jen! Did you get them to take your photos down?
I admit adding something to the photo is just one more thing to add to the list, and we already spend so much time blogging. But it was quick and easy at pic monkey and I didn’t even need to register.
I watermarked for awhile. Then stopped. I just don’t care. Maybe I should care, since I blog for pay for someone else, but the photos are mine. And they’re not that great. *sigh* I should care.
LOL mine aren’t that great either!
It might be risky, but I take no precautions. I don’t want to clutter photos with watermarks and I don’t have thousands of readers, so I’m not overly concerned.
I work in contracts and intellectual property in the day-to-day, so I’m comfortable with this decision.
The inherent rules of intellectual property ownership always mean that my photos and words are my own, and if they get taken and used with or without credit, or plagarized, I always have grounds to ask it to be taken down.
Now, with the internet being what it is, that requires you monitoring and searching for such things, and then writing P.F.O. letters to people who could be in other countries on the other side of the world. If you have the time and effort, you can get retribution, but it sounds stressful and like a lot of work.
I actually wrote on this in greater detail once, if one is so inclined: http://backalleysoapbox.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/is-my-blog-copyrighted/
Thank you for leaving that link. I went back and read it and it was an excellent post! I will be linking to it in my FUF spot, with credit to you of course. 🙂
What does Tales and Tails do? I only ask because I had mentioned the coat that Bunny wears to a friend since she was looking for her dogs. I wanted to send her one of Bunny’s pictures with her coat on so I right clicked to copy it and a warning message came up. I forget what it said but I just x’d out of it and sent her the link to the website instead. I don’t know if it would deter anyone wanting to steal the picture, and they are some beautiful pictures, I just didn’t take it any further. I heeded the warning.
I’m like you, I say I don’t care but I guess if I saw one of my pictures on some website I’d be a little bit miffed about it.
I went to her website and right clicked and copied a photo. i wonder how that happened?
Mom doesn’t protect my photos at all. It just doesn’t seem worth the trouble, plus I kind of like it when people show me off.
Love and licks and I am not a diva,
Cupcake
I don’t mind if people are showing my dogs off either, but what if they modify the picture to show something bad?
I don’t do anything to protect my blog, but when the whole thing was scraped I did do a bit of agitation, and the offending post disappeared. I suppose using a watermark might deter such things, but do you have to add the watermark individually to each photo? I post so spontaneously now–writing when I get an idea or feel the urge, finding photos that are relevant and sticking those in there–and I want to keep it that way. Spending too much time on bureaucratic-seeming tasks would take a lot of the fun out of it!
I agree Kirsten, adding a tedious step to something I love takes away some of the enjoyment. But if someone took a whole post, I’d be inclined to put up a stink. I’m glad it worked out okay for you!
I don’t use any watermarks on my pics but most of them are crappy ones taken on the iPhone anyway and useful only to tell my stories. Recently, someone used a few of Georgia’s pics for a Shelter campaign. She asked for permission and I was more than happy to let her use them for free.
I read a photographer’s take on copywriting photos not too long ago. He said he didn’t bother because he liked seeing his photos turn up everywhere and people enjoying them. It was in fact a way for him to get free publicity for his photographic skills. That’s an interesting way of looking at this issue, isn’t it? On the news today…someone saw a picture she’d taken of Bondi on a local retailer ad campaign. They’d printed it on tshirts they were selling! Can you believe it? I think she’s taking them to court.
Now using my pictures to help promote the shelter (with permission) is wonderful. Using my dog’s photo to sell tee-shirts, totally different ball game!! I’d take them to court too!
I admittedly don’t do anything about the photos, other than my general copyright on my blog. But I don’t take the best photos…so to me, I’d be happy if someone wanted to use them. 🙂
My writing I’d be upset about, but it is copyrighted the moment you set it on paper.
Me either, although if I have a particularly cute photo I might take steps to protect it. 🙂
I try to use my own photographs, pathetic though they may be.
For my artwork, I imbed my name.
But, no matter the precautions I take, I’m sure my artwork is floating out there somewhere. I would only hope others wouldn’t claim it as their own.
Great post! 🙂
Thanks Tracy and welcome!! Love having your input. Yes if I had the artwork you do, I’d be protecting it as well. 🙂
So sweet of you to say. 🙂
I don’t do much of anything – and a picture of my mom and Gwynn did one day pop up in one of those ‘cute pics’ email forwards – “Top cutest dogs” or something like that, which was surprising… and gratifying 😉
Great information!
Maybe the button is the good idea?
I usually credit the pictures, but lately I try to search under creative commons.
I couldn’t even notice the watermark across Sampson’s head, maybe I need glasses?
Isn’t it a shame we even have to think about it? Why can’t everyone just be fair about it?
Wags to all
Your pal Snoopy 🙂