It has been brought to my attention more than once in the last week, that Pinterest and the copyright conundrum connected to it, is indeed making people uncomfortable.
I have talked to people that have actually taken down the boards they have up that don’t contain their own images.
Now…once I get past the part that says, WHAT? Take down the 6135 pins I currently have pinned…oh wait, I am not really actually past that part yet.
I am still contemplating whether or not I should jump ship and take that leap out of fear.
I…like everyone, choose pretty much always…not to get sued for infringement of copyright.
I had a small panic attack about a year back when the use of photos on blogs was an issue. I had many pictures on my old blog that were not mine, but that I had linked to the original owners site, this too can not be enough if the original owner wants to be cranky about it. I had a few on this blog, which I promptly took down. All of the photo’s on here now are mostly mine, other than the recent Justin Bieber shot, because hey…I don’t know him well enough to have taken a shot of him. My blogging experience and schooling have taught me things that many people don’t think about on a regular basis. Many things I didn’t at first know have now changed.
The other thing I was wondering about today was whether or not the little box on the bottom right of the blog that displays my latest pins could also become an issue.
So the thing is, how do you pin responsibly? I pin with wild abandon most of the time. I want to say that I check out all the links as I go and am responsible for making sure that the link goes to a site that embraces pinning. The truth is that until today, I never really thought about it much.
I use Pinterest like a big ole bookmark…so that when I need to revisit a site or a picture, I have it right where I left it and it is easy for me to access. I have deleted my art board though, as I can understand how anyone wanting to sell their product could possibly have an issue with people just taking it.
I would also hope that most people in this day and age would understand the fact that 99% of the people on Pinterest are in it for the sharing, for the love of looking at beautiful things that we possibly won’t ever achieve in our real lives, as well as it being a fabulous resource to store links that we want to eventually revisit or share. I understand that there are people out there that just don’t want their stuff to be taken without permission and/or money, but is it really necessary to sue someone?
Hopefully just asking someone to take the picture off of their board would be enough, I mean contact Pinterest and complain, send messages if you see it posted…or source out whoever you think could be benefiting from your work.
The one thing that I very much understand is the vendors that are on Etsy and other sites, who’s links get lost in the shuffle. That sucks for sure, especially if it is something that I am looking to buy. I mostly won’t even post something with a lost link.
Admittedly, I don’t always check the link out when I am in a posting frenzy, it can be weeks later that I go back to the item and realize that it has been linked back to some kind of crap spam site, which I then proceed to report.
The other thing I really try to avoid is if someone has taken all the information and then posted it right on the picture so the user has no reason to click through to the website. I make sure to take that off and link so the site will have to be accessed to get the recipe or information provided.
I actually had a girl do that to one of my posts, which I promptly asked her to take down, if you are not going to go to my site and check it out, what is the benefit to me as a blogger?
But it is not something I am going to sue your ass for. Unless you were being obviously malicious and taking my content and calling it yours, then we are going to have a serious problem.
So for today I have decided to leave it all up, I am slowly going through my pins to make sure they do indeed go through to the original blog post, but it might take me a while. I have 6135 freaking pins people.
And I am just not ready to let it go.
What is your opinion on the copyright infringement problem that Pinterest poses? Are you running clear or not quite ready to let it go?
Discuss!!!
