Do You Have Permission To Use That Photo?
I recently put together a list of 7 Ways to Be a Sinful Blogger, but didn’t realize I was actually sinning. Oh my!
You may have noticed (or not) that I removed the Google 300×300 ads that were displaying in the upper left hand of each post. I am replacing those ads with relevant (in my opinion) images. Reason being is that it just looks nicer, it’s fun, it attracts the readers and lastly because if I want to go to a theme that is more magazine style then the images will be in place for that future initiative…blah blah blah.
How quickly I digress….The point of this post is the error of my ways in using an image for the 7 Ways to Be a Sinful Blogger. I found the image on Flickr.com. I liked it so I used it. Knowing that proper etiquette is to link back to all sources one uses, I did just that. After all I didn’t take the photo someone else did and they should get the credit for the artwork not me.
Well the owner of the image emailed me and told me that “the image was his and that I should have asked him before I used it”. Absolute my friends I guess I should have. I replied to his email, apologized for my misunderstanding of the rules and asked if I could use his image after the fact. He has not replied back so I am going to assume that’s a “NO”.
So long story short I’ve removed the image and replaced it with my avatar until I can locate an image that will fit the content. I’ve since returned to Flickr.com and am searching through there creative commons directory. The images in the creative commons directory can be used with some stipulations. So make sure to scroll down and read the Additional Information in the sidebar on the right of each picture you want to use. There you will find out what type of Creative Commons license is on each image. For instance the image I am using for this post has Some Rights Reserved and allows me:
• to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
• to Remix — to adapt the work
And requires
• Attribution — you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
The great thing about Creative Commons is that the artists upload their work for free. But more impressive is that the artists want their work to be seen and used by others.
This quick video explains Creative Commons so much better than I can.
So as you can see I am learning another valuable lesson as I make another baby step towards being an Internet Entrepreneur. Simply linking to another persons work, no matter how simplistic the work may be; is not always the only thing you need to do in order to use it.
Have you encountered this situation before? How did you handle it? What advise can you give on this subject? Please let us know in the comments.
Photo Credit:
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Have you tried fotolia.com? Their images are from .75p and very good quality. We had a lot of problems from a very well known (huge) company a couple of years ago. We bought images over the previous five years paid quite a lot of money for some of them (£250) and they wanted to see proof. Well we couldn’t immediately find the proof and they gave us a lot of problems, threatened legal action etc, all very frightening and we were not the only ones according to our searches on the internet.
Anyway, we did research and found fotolia and are very pleased with them. They recently started doing videos too.
The previous ‘incident’ has made us very wary though.
Yikes thanks for the info Fiona, I would hate to be faced with that kind of circumstance. I will be sure to check out the recommended site as well.
And hey welcome to my blog
Great post, I just wrote a post about some of the losers out there that find some kind of joy in using copywritten images for their own personal gain. Pathetic and beyond sad.
Extreme John´s last blog ..The Dirtbags Amongst Us
Yes, I got to read that post and I hope the Dirtbags got the message.
Thanks for this post, it provides a little deeper look and understanding of the creative commons rules and regs.
Jimi Jones´s last blog ..The Importance of Using Images in Your Blog Posts
You are quite welcome. I just don’t want anyone else to have to go through the embarrassment of having to remove items from their blog because they didn’t ask permission first or didn’t follow copyright rules. I’m glad this post was of help