AniaR
07-29-2011, 09:43 AM
I wanted to take a moment and talk about us posting photos that aren't ours on here. I know it's pretty common for people to do this on the internet especially on forums and places like FB. I wanted to share with you a note I wrote a few months ago over some drama on my FB page from the perspective of someone who has had someone take their photos, but also as someone who has worked as a prof. model and photographer. I'm going to quote it and I'll add some more info at the end. A few parts if this quote have been omitted as they are no longer applicable, just for understanding sake...
Okay my fans I'm a bit upset today and I need to talk about something important. It's got nothing to do with the ocean, with reading, or any of the usual things I talk about but instead is about internet safety, rights, and privacy. I would appreciate it if you shared it around and considered it yourself.
This morning I had a frustrating experience with a person who felt entitled. This happens a lot on the internet. People don't understand or appreciate the consequences of their actions and believe no one can do anything about it. In short, I had a run in with an individual admin who ran a fan page (the page has several other admins who were not responsible for the actions of one) and felt entitled to re-post my images and when I said no decided to start drama and problems for me.
You may think that pretty innocent and I suppose that's part of the problem. Some people don't care if their images get reposted online so the people doing it assume no one cares. However in my case there are 3 major problems with reposting my work without my permission that I'd like to enlighten you to:
1) Copyright. Many of my images were made by myself, a photographer, a makeup artist, and sometimes an assistant. The photographers give me explicit permission where I can display the images they have created. Many donate the images to me hence why I do not sell them as prints. When images start getting reposted they are generally never credited to start and it increases the chances for art theft. It is not completely avoidable with it being the internet and all so you'll see watermarks on the images- but you can see why when people ask me about reposting I tell them no. It's not my permission to give.
Facebook recognizes this and in the TOS makes it very clear that this is a bannable offense. I can report any image of mine being used without my permission to have it removed and ban the person if they continue to do it. If they claim my work is actually theirs (do not credit etc) that is called art theft and is illegal and punishable by law as well as breaking Facebook TOS.
2) Children. My images feature children and ANYTIME you put images of children on the internet it's important to ALWAYS HAVE the direct permission of parents unless your images feature children in a way that they are unrecognizable. You never know the story a child has if they are adopted and can't be seen online, if parents are worried (with due cause) about child predators etc. So I do not take it lightly when a parent gives me permission to put an image of myself with their child online and I always give them the right to have it removed whenever they feel it should be. Those are their children, their prerogative. When a parent carefully gives me permission to post a photo of their child they know I am diligent in keeping their image within context and safe. When other groups start posting my images with children (this has not happened yet to my knowledge) they are VIOLATING THAT CHILD'S RIGHTS and the rights of their parents as well as exploiting them. Facebook and not surprisingly the law take this sort of thing very seriously.
3) Finally, context. I want my work to stay in its context of education. There are many different groups out there with an interest in what I do that is not on par with what I am actually doing. By keeping a tight rein on my images and materials I know my work is being kept in context and not being misused or misrepresented.
Now that I've made my 3 main points I want you to keep them in mind when I tell you how the rest of this played out. I contacted the person and told them it was nothing personal but here are all the reasons why I do not allow my work to be re-posted. They felt entitled to re-post because they thought they were doing me a favour in regards to promotion. Well, you can see how lifting my work and not crediting me or getting permission isn't exactly doing me any favours. If you want to promote me I sincerely appreciate it but the best way you can do that is grab a business card, post my link, or share my page.
Next I received what I felt was a threatening comment from the individual who then violated my privacy by posting a link to my not public profile page that I use for friends and families. You may not think it's a big deal but I have kept my two profiles separate on purpose and for my own prerogative. I rarely add people from the mer community on there because I'm quite capable of communicating with people through my Raina account and as a teacher it's even more important for me to be super aware of what I have online and who has access to it. Yes I have a FB personal page and it's locked up tighter than anything. This person still decided to go ahead and post it (I have deleted the comments) with their comments. Seconds later coincidentally my private page was reported for hosting inappropriate images and I was locked out of my profile. The thing with FB is they ask questions later they remove everything on default and only if you open up a help ticket can you get the matter resolved if you've been wrongfully targeted and that's what I did.
I am incredibly disappointed in the behaviour of this individual and they have since been banned from my page. I want to assure everyone they can no longer see anything and I will always be patrolling to be sure no one is reposting my work and I know all of you will help with that too. I did remove some images today at the request of a family and after seeing these actions I believe the family did the right thing in asking me to remove. It's sad, I love sharing what I do and showing what children experience with me but certainly not at the cost to their privacy. They may not have taken any of my images with children but if they're going to kick up such a fuss and cause so many problems over an old image I ask them not to use then it's clear they aren't to be trusted.
I urge you to consider my points and experience when you ask me about reposting my work or anyone else for that matter. Yes, you will run into my work in other places on the internet but it's all been posted with permission of all parties involved. I hope you will understand that my actions toward this person and in dealing with this situation are driven by the different people I have worked with, their families, and my respect for them- not that I'm some snobby mermaid who doesn't think she needs "promotion". I hope you'll share this note in the mer-communtiy so other people will read it and think twice. Thank you.
I wanted to add that on most websites whether you realize it or not it's Illegal to post images you didn't take. it may not seem like a big deal because everyone is doing it, but the fact you check yes on a TOS is enough to cause you legal troubles. A lot of people think you cant actually have anything legal happen to you on the internet but images are one of those niches like music where you actually can and even on my 8 years on deviantART I have seen HUGE things go down.
Some of the main reasons this is a bad thing outside of the ones I listed in my quote...
1. Some people WILL take credit for a work they didnt create, and while you may not, you're making the image more available for people to do so.
2. Some people will try to make money off the images, there has been huge cases of art theft being used as advertising on FB ad getting people into big time trouble, but people will go as far as trying to use the image to sell prints or put it on products.`Even if you arent doing this by spreading it around the internet you're helping people do it.
The best ways to get around this are...
1. Simply don't post anything that isn't yours
2. if you are posting something that isn't yours, either have permission , or be sure to link back to the original artist's website or link of the photo so people who wan to contact the artist or buy the image can.
Images have a watermark on them for a reason, please dont crop it out. if you ever did get charged and you try to use "I was just sharing it for interest sake" as an excuse, they'll point out right away you cut off the watermark. it's the same as cutting off an artist's signature.
Now some artists and models/photographers have no problem if you repost their work everywhere. But keep in mind, just because a specific model or mermaid loves having their images shared everywhere doesn't mean their photographer does. I've become acquaintances of one of Hannah Mermaid's photographers on DA. he's great and his body of work is amazing, and we ALWAYS report when people re-post/reupload his work of Hannah. People are constantly trying to sell it or re work it ever so slightly (there was a girl on MM who edited out Hanna's face and put her own in!) to try and pass it off as something original and make a buck.
Please keep this in mind when you post someone else's photos ANYWHERE on the web. It seems like such an innocent act but it can cause problems for so many people
Okay my fans I'm a bit upset today and I need to talk about something important. It's got nothing to do with the ocean, with reading, or any of the usual things I talk about but instead is about internet safety, rights, and privacy. I would appreciate it if you shared it around and considered it yourself.
This morning I had a frustrating experience with a person who felt entitled. This happens a lot on the internet. People don't understand or appreciate the consequences of their actions and believe no one can do anything about it. In short, I had a run in with an individual admin who ran a fan page (the page has several other admins who were not responsible for the actions of one) and felt entitled to re-post my images and when I said no decided to start drama and problems for me.
You may think that pretty innocent and I suppose that's part of the problem. Some people don't care if their images get reposted online so the people doing it assume no one cares. However in my case there are 3 major problems with reposting my work without my permission that I'd like to enlighten you to:
1) Copyright. Many of my images were made by myself, a photographer, a makeup artist, and sometimes an assistant. The photographers give me explicit permission where I can display the images they have created. Many donate the images to me hence why I do not sell them as prints. When images start getting reposted they are generally never credited to start and it increases the chances for art theft. It is not completely avoidable with it being the internet and all so you'll see watermarks on the images- but you can see why when people ask me about reposting I tell them no. It's not my permission to give.
Facebook recognizes this and in the TOS makes it very clear that this is a bannable offense. I can report any image of mine being used without my permission to have it removed and ban the person if they continue to do it. If they claim my work is actually theirs (do not credit etc) that is called art theft and is illegal and punishable by law as well as breaking Facebook TOS.
2) Children. My images feature children and ANYTIME you put images of children on the internet it's important to ALWAYS HAVE the direct permission of parents unless your images feature children in a way that they are unrecognizable. You never know the story a child has if they are adopted and can't be seen online, if parents are worried (with due cause) about child predators etc. So I do not take it lightly when a parent gives me permission to put an image of myself with their child online and I always give them the right to have it removed whenever they feel it should be. Those are their children, their prerogative. When a parent carefully gives me permission to post a photo of their child they know I am diligent in keeping their image within context and safe. When other groups start posting my images with children (this has not happened yet to my knowledge) they are VIOLATING THAT CHILD'S RIGHTS and the rights of their parents as well as exploiting them. Facebook and not surprisingly the law take this sort of thing very seriously.
3) Finally, context. I want my work to stay in its context of education. There are many different groups out there with an interest in what I do that is not on par with what I am actually doing. By keeping a tight rein on my images and materials I know my work is being kept in context and not being misused or misrepresented.
Now that I've made my 3 main points I want you to keep them in mind when I tell you how the rest of this played out. I contacted the person and told them it was nothing personal but here are all the reasons why I do not allow my work to be re-posted. They felt entitled to re-post because they thought they were doing me a favour in regards to promotion. Well, you can see how lifting my work and not crediting me or getting permission isn't exactly doing me any favours. If you want to promote me I sincerely appreciate it but the best way you can do that is grab a business card, post my link, or share my page.
Next I received what I felt was a threatening comment from the individual who then violated my privacy by posting a link to my not public profile page that I use for friends and families. You may not think it's a big deal but I have kept my two profiles separate on purpose and for my own prerogative. I rarely add people from the mer community on there because I'm quite capable of communicating with people through my Raina account and as a teacher it's even more important for me to be super aware of what I have online and who has access to it. Yes I have a FB personal page and it's locked up tighter than anything. This person still decided to go ahead and post it (I have deleted the comments) with their comments. Seconds later coincidentally my private page was reported for hosting inappropriate images and I was locked out of my profile. The thing with FB is they ask questions later they remove everything on default and only if you open up a help ticket can you get the matter resolved if you've been wrongfully targeted and that's what I did.
I am incredibly disappointed in the behaviour of this individual and they have since been banned from my page. I want to assure everyone they can no longer see anything and I will always be patrolling to be sure no one is reposting my work and I know all of you will help with that too. I did remove some images today at the request of a family and after seeing these actions I believe the family did the right thing in asking me to remove. It's sad, I love sharing what I do and showing what children experience with me but certainly not at the cost to their privacy. They may not have taken any of my images with children but if they're going to kick up such a fuss and cause so many problems over an old image I ask them not to use then it's clear they aren't to be trusted.
I urge you to consider my points and experience when you ask me about reposting my work or anyone else for that matter. Yes, you will run into my work in other places on the internet but it's all been posted with permission of all parties involved. I hope you will understand that my actions toward this person and in dealing with this situation are driven by the different people I have worked with, their families, and my respect for them- not that I'm some snobby mermaid who doesn't think she needs "promotion". I hope you'll share this note in the mer-communtiy so other people will read it and think twice. Thank you.
I wanted to add that on most websites whether you realize it or not it's Illegal to post images you didn't take. it may not seem like a big deal because everyone is doing it, but the fact you check yes on a TOS is enough to cause you legal troubles. A lot of people think you cant actually have anything legal happen to you on the internet but images are one of those niches like music where you actually can and even on my 8 years on deviantART I have seen HUGE things go down.
Some of the main reasons this is a bad thing outside of the ones I listed in my quote...
1. Some people WILL take credit for a work they didnt create, and while you may not, you're making the image more available for people to do so.
2. Some people will try to make money off the images, there has been huge cases of art theft being used as advertising on FB ad getting people into big time trouble, but people will go as far as trying to use the image to sell prints or put it on products.`Even if you arent doing this by spreading it around the internet you're helping people do it.
The best ways to get around this are...
1. Simply don't post anything that isn't yours
2. if you are posting something that isn't yours, either have permission , or be sure to link back to the original artist's website or link of the photo so people who wan to contact the artist or buy the image can.
Images have a watermark on them for a reason, please dont crop it out. if you ever did get charged and you try to use "I was just sharing it for interest sake" as an excuse, they'll point out right away you cut off the watermark. it's the same as cutting off an artist's signature.
Now some artists and models/photographers have no problem if you repost their work everywhere. But keep in mind, just because a specific model or mermaid loves having their images shared everywhere doesn't mean their photographer does. I've become acquaintances of one of Hannah Mermaid's photographers on DA. he's great and his body of work is amazing, and we ALWAYS report when people re-post/reupload his work of Hannah. People are constantly trying to sell it or re work it ever so slightly (there was a girl on MM who edited out Hanna's face and put her own in!) to try and pass it off as something original and make a buck.
Please keep this in mind when you post someone else's photos ANYWHERE on the web. It seems like such an innocent act but it can cause problems for so many people