I'm going to sidestep the usual formula that I use, and just talk about some issues this time. In the discussions section, a couple of people have said that I'm encouraging my readers to do something wrong, take copyright images from the web.
Well, I'd like to give my opinion on that. If someone goes to a Marilyn Manson concert for example, and takes some great pictures while he's there, and posts them on his website, I don't believe that anyone should take them. If an artist, like myself, draws some great art and puts it on his site, I don't believe anyone should take it. Asking for the use of the images is fine, but abide by the owner's final word. I make my art available to pretty much anyone who asks, because I expected people to take it when I put it online. To think that anyone takes any time soul searching whether or not to save an image to their hard drive is crazy.
Big entertainment companies, like the movie studios, and tv networks must expect the images to be taken. They can't be that blind, that's how the net works. A lot of them have policies in place that deny any requests to use any of their material. This is just to insulate them that extra little bit from the tragedy of having their property become public domain. Once it's public domain, they can no longer make the profit which keeps the show going, so everyone loses.
I didn't say that posting copyright information would stop the owners from any action, it will just protect their claim. It's kind of like if a path went through your yard for thirty years, and suddenly you didn't want anyone walking through. Since you didn't act to protect your claim on your yard at the start, you can't do it now. That has become a public area.
Well, if you just use images from Star Trek for example, with no sign of any copyright notice, and then everyone else does, soon the image becomes public domain. The company can no longer claim ownership. That's a problem for all of us.
That's why I said that you should post the copyright info. Sure copyright means DO NOT COPY, but if everyone took this so literally, there wouldn't be any good fan sites for any movies or tv shows. If fans using images is bad, I really think that the alternative is a whole lot worse. I don't know about you, but I think the big companies already own too much of the net. A fully corporate net isn't for me, I'd get fresh air first! :)
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Creed Stonegate's Web Image Sources topic, please visit the Discussions page.