to pin or not--please don't pin mine

[arlee barr]

I'm bothered by the fact that "Pins"are coming from here with no credit to the actual artist. This violates copyright--i don't copy photos to my blog that aren't mine, but people seem to think it's okay to do it there. And now Pinterest can "print" those  pins and make money from my images uncredited and with no financial or artistic recompense to myself or the other artists.

[Franchesca Havas]

Have you added the opt out code to your section so that pinning is impossible? Pininterest provides the code and I have it on my site. It works.

It is only one line of defence but at least it puts the user on notice not to pin your images or content and if they do you can have it removed immedidately by complaining to Pininterst.

[Emily]

Pinterest just said they will not "sell" your photos.  But that is far from the only problem with them.  They have taken upon themselves the right to use any photos uploaded to their site to promote themselves and anyone who pays them.  So they can take your photos and send any clicks to sites that have nothing to do with you. 

I have two photos in the stitchin fingers pinterest pool and neither of them have links to my page here or to my website.  I personally find that extremely irritating.

I have actually had someone use one of my photos to promote an online class with which I was not connected without my permission or attribution to my website. It isn't so funny at all.  I don't care how well-intentioned people are.  It isn't ok to use someone else's photos to sell something without a license from the copyright owner and it certainly isn't ok to give the right to someone else without the copyright holder's permission (which is exactly what you do when you pin on Pinterest).

[Mosaic Magpie]

Pinterest has changed it's terms but they are still only protecting themselves. Our local news just did a story on Pinterest, they said the only safe way to use Pinterest was to "pin" only photos you had taken yourself. 

Deb

[arlee barr]

which ironically, if anyone reads the "terms of service", they ask you not to do!

Mosaic Magpie said:

Pinterest has changed it's terms but they are still only protecting themselves. Our local news just did a story on Pinterest, they said the only safe way to use Pinterest was to "pin" only photos you had taken yourself. 

Deb

[syd harper]

I highly agree and have also tried to get people to stop.  A fable, a person who owns a" local hand made by artisans" gift shop tries to encourage patrons to pick things from pintrest so that she and her crew can copy and make the objects and guess who gets credit for the work.  The owner of the shop not the artist who originated the idea.

[Connie Eyberg]

Can code be added to our section on SF or are you referring to Blogger?

Franchesca Havas said:

Have you added the opt out code to your section so that pinning is impossible? Pininterest provides the code and I have it on my site. It works.

It is only one line of defence but at least it puts the user on notice not to pin your images or content and if they do you can have it removed immedidately by complaining to Pininterst.

[Holly Cooper]

I'm in a Flickr group about Bento Lunches. Many of the savvy users brand their photos with their username and/or blog url. In the past people have copied photos and used them in articles or other media without permission. I do think this is the best way to go, as a commenter mentioned previously.

[Holly Cooper]

So sorry, I see now it's your policy not to have photos marked with a blog url, so disregard that suggestion. But I would totally watermark with my name if I were doing some original work that might be copied or pinned.

[arlee barr]

a watermark or not, it's still a copyright issue---did anyone ASK PERMISSION? And by saying that it's not watermarked and "okay" to pin then, is the same thing as saying "oh my neighbour must not mind if i enter their house or car because it was left unlocked" -----you can't just help yourself

i know there are "questionable" boards on Pinterest as well--all i'm saying is that when the photo of *your* child shows up on there from your blog in a "category" that is scarey or demeaning, are you going to get the point then????  (*you* in the generic sense not anyone specifically here)

[sharonb]

I think I have managed to implement a the no pin meta tag for stitchin fingers - hopefully images here will from this point on not be able to be pined. Past pinned images I can not do anything about - the copyright holder will have to chase it up. 

I say hopefully because even the support on Ning were not sure it would work across the network. 

[Mosaic Magpie]

Thank you Sharon!

Deb

[Cathleen Savage]

Hi all - I agree that the whole "pinning" frenzy has gone too far.  As a business owner of a visual business, I love the idea of Pinterest but as an artist, I cannot abide the use of images without permission.  I think it is important to distinguish between giving proper credit (nice but still not legal unless you have permission) and getting permission.  That is the hard part about images in the digital age.  There is no standard for letting people know proactively that you may pin images from their site.  So, we must assume there is no permission given unless the person has posted specific permission to share the image.  I am in the process of reviewing all my boards to make sure that all images are OK.  Have had to take down quite a few.  Have also sent a bunch of requests to ask permission.  Very tedious.  

One suggestion to artists with websites or blogs:  Post your permission of lack of permission to Pin your images.  One person who has designed a nice badge to accomplish this is Alexandra at  http://alexandrawrote.com/  Look halfway down the right hand column on her home page.

Another person who is trying to educate people about respectful pinning is Kal Barteski.  SHe has lots of information at: http://linkwithlove.typepad.com/linkwithlove/

Best regards,

Cathleen Savage

Just to clarify, Pinterest just changed their terms of service to make clear that they do not own the images pinned.