There has been tons of talk in blog land about making sure that your Pins come from the original source. I always cite the original source when using Pins on my blog, but I am probably guilty of pinning quickly without a second though. I have been wanting to redo all my pins so that they source the correct person, but again, time to do that is rare. Read this post for some great tips on how to do this successfully. Doing this would make you feel better about what your posting and would give the original creator the correct credit, but according to Pinterest's Terms of Use, it wouldn't cover your butt if you were to get sued for using their image.
Some of you may or may not have read this article by DDK Portraits that has been circulating for awhile now. In this post, the legalities of Pinterest are investigated and how it would affect users, like you and me, should a lawsuit arise out of illegal pinning. Did you know that if someone sued you for copyright infringement for the use of their image, you are responsible for not only your own legal fees but for also any fees incurred by Pinterest!?!) I read it and thought OMG...I sure don't want to get sued, nor would I want to pay for someone else's legal fees! But I brushed it aside and went on pinning...because I love pinning!!! It is the best thing since, well...the invention of the internet...?!
My worries were deepened a bit when I opened up an email from LinkedIn this morning and the top article in their news report was the above mentioned article. So again I am wondering about this whole pinterest thing. Maybe I was just safer saving images to my computer? Of course then I didn't know where the original source came from, but if it was just a pretty picture that only I wanted to look at, did it matter? I guess I would probably have more time on my hands if I chose to delete my Pinterest boards. Pinterest is one of my top referrals to my blog, so how would that affect my traffic if it was no longer? And as far as using images on my blog, I would do it the old fashioned way and google it and then cite the original source. But how is that different then using Pinterest and citing the original source? It's kinda confusing on what you can and can't do....
What are your thoughts on this? Are you worried about your boards and pins on Pinterest?
| Image via Dear Pinterest |
8 comments:
Well Lish, this certainly gives us all plenty to think about. I am guilty of just pinning and not really thinking of the source of the original site, not out of sneakiness, just out of not really thinking it through. I view pintrest as just my pin board of things I like... things that inspire me... now I guess I need to rethink the use of pintrest. Thanks for putting it all out there like this to raise awareness.
By the way, your new look rocks! love the blog design girl!
Wow, thanks for sharing this! I am definitely spooked now- enough to the point where I will be deleting at least some things from my pin boards. I can't imagine being faced with a lawsuit over some silly thing I spent two seconds "pinning"! I also feel like maybe I should go back and delete my blog posts with Pinterest images...yikes!
This is definitely a controversial topic...I have cleaned out my boards, but didn't delete all of them...I do know that some photographers have been having trouble with pins that weren't linked correctly...I would probably be upset if my work were used by everyone...and even Ben Silberman's account isn't accessible any longer...how is that for being worried...oh, what to do!? xxx
After reading a post from Addicted to Decorating a while ago, I went and cleaned up all of my boards and made sure the pins were linked correctly. I lost some good pictures that way, but so be it.
As for the potential for lawsuit...I'll take my chances. Most of what I pin comes from DIY and home blogs, and most of them have "pin it" buttons on their site. For my uses, I think I'm pretty safe.
For those that pin photography and art, though...I'd be a little more wary.
The difference for me is that I usually want to know more about the project, so I want to pin directly to the site rather than repin other people's stuff and sift through all the re-pinning to get back to it later. (Have I re-pinned? Yes. Absolutely. And good advice to go through and clean those early pins up!)
But in making sure I was pinning the original source so I could find it again later, I was SHOCKED at how many pins go to dead links. Someone out there - many someones - really do seem to be taking liberties with the intellectual property of others.
If I see a pin button on a post, I take that as express permission to feel free. And I do love to see my things pinned! But I would also feel differently if I spotted my project, and found that in clicking through, I ended up somewhere I was not properly credited, or ended up at a dead end.
It's a good thing to get talking about, that's for sure.
Funny this comes up now....this is exactly why I haven't pinned yet.I guess I should explain,
A few years back(before the Pinterest craze)somes photos of mine were used by someone without my knowledge whatsoever...these photos were credited by that User,soooo, come to find out, the credited person is who actually used my images and the User had gotten THEIR permission to post these pics(am I making sense??) My biggest issue is the credited original thief was crediting themself as the artisan/creator of the pieces in the photos....anyway to make this as short as possible, the User was mortified and actually innocent 'cause she had done the right thing and gotten permission and went through that process and gave credit where she thought it was do...
Thus my reason for the paranoia.
I would hate to do to someone what had been done to me. I could have made a BIG hassle,I didn't,but let me tell you, I was pissed and EVERYBODY knew it...
That's actually when I starting paying more attention to copyright, so while I adore Pinterest and could cruise there for days on end, I'm afraid to use it.
Wow…this is a lot to think about. That article is pretty crazy. I guess its time to clean up my boards.
And about sharing pins on my blog…guess that could get me in serious trouble.
The only other thing I can think of is notifying people before using the work. I always always credit any pins I use, or just don't use them.
This is definitely something to think about, I wasn't aware that pinning could cause a lawsuit. Although some of my images are on their without watermarks on them I have since gone back and watermarked all of my images.
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