The topic came up the other night about images and whether it’s right to use images found on Google Images. My opinion on this subject is that it’s never right to take an image unless you are following it’s Creative Commons License. And if a license can’t be found, then you should ask the image owner whether or not you can use that image on your site.
I view taking an image from someone else’s site without permission or license as an act of stealing. Whether that person made the work, bought the image or found it on a free open source image site like sxc.hu, it’s their image and not yours. Don’t be a thief! Pony up a few bucks and go over to a royalty free image site if you need a high quality image for your blog.
If you want to know why most bloggers don’t make much money, this is a root cause of that. Most bloggers look for the cheap or free way to do everything no matter who they are stealing from. If someone made something you want to use, give them a buck for it or ask if you can use it. It only takes a minute to write a short email to them.
I would love to hear what you think about this subject, as it seems there are many differing opinions. Do you think it’s ok to use images that you don’t have a right to use because they are on the Internet?
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Well I agree.
I would be quite pissed off is someone stole my content. But I just think that when you are doing a Google Image search and find a picture, the website where you find the picture might not even be the owner of the image anyway.
If you should do something I would use flickr and do an advanced search where I include that it should be “CC license”
True that the website owner might not be the image owner, but that doesn't give anyone a right to then use it. What if they paid to use it? Ask the site owner where they got it if they didn't create it. As far as Flickr, that's a great idea that I completely forgot about. Will add that to my list of places to find images. And if the CC license says give an attribution, there better be a damn attribution or that's still stealing.
Yeah you need to add the attribution!
Bloggers Need to Stop Stealing and Start Asking http://tinyurl.com/yl9qpzh
I agree. I found out someone had copied my writing and translated it on another website. I was furious. If they would have asked, I would have agreed. Instead, I feel like I need to have their blog removed for stealing.
And that's another very valid point. It's people's written word and even videos being used without permission.
I think of two things up front when I think about this. 1. Laziness. 2. Lack of creativity/skills.
I'm so happy that my blog is 40% of your Disqus comments.
I Agree with Laura. Laziness and Lack of creativity best describes why this happens. Worst of it all is that many Bloggers don't only “copy/download” these images without permission, they do the same to Content(articles), design and everything imaginable.
Awesome Post and above all, a solid advice!
Great conversation going on about whether content thieves. http://tinyurl.com/yl9qpzh
I gotta disagree – not saying that it's all right, but I don't think it's laziness and lack of creativity. I am one of the most creative people you'll ever meet. I'm also a workaholic. Oftentimes, I may spend a very lengthy period of time to find the perfect image. Sometimes the stock-photo places just don't have what I want. I don't think it's either. I think it's as I said in my lengthy comment- convenience trumps morals. Most people don't realize what copyright is. Many blogs are lame of course, but they don't include a handbook. People just see that everyone has them. As a consultant, I get to correct what oftentimes happens, which is that someone started doing something 'cause they heard they needed to (blog, facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc). People start blogging, and they probably don't even know that they can purchase images.
One interesting question I just thought of— would you rather that more people started using images, video, etc…. and made their sites look prettier, be easier to read, and offer more value….
or
Would you rather see more atributions, more people being asked, and more purchases.
Oddly enough, the correct answer of course is both… but I see it going in one, based on human nature. When things get out of control though, is when a new alternative comes out— soon enough, images will be pixel-tracked somehow– so your photos always contain your information. Some of them do contain various information (camera serial #, date/tie/apperture—- depending on camera) in a way that is noticeable etc…. Right now, people don't look up that information, even though it may be stored right within the image that's stolen.
You have some valid points there Ori. Music and movies do seem to have a different standard and I'll admit that I treat them differently also. And if you don't mind someone using your images as long as they don't sell, you can give them that license. But there are many people out there that want to have control of their work and people should respect that.
I don't know if you can classify it information theft if you are filtering the information and putting it into your own ideas. School taught you to use other people's ideas to formulate your own. It crosses the line though, when people copy and paste exactly what you say and claim it as their own thoughts. That kind of shit will get you kicked out of school and it's just as wrong here on the Internet.
And I've actually seen that you can add meta-tag data to pictures, which makes me wonder why it isn't easier to track them down yet. That's what will happen if anything. Someone will figure out a way to keep track of where images are posted based on that meta data.
schools can go and screw themselves (now they're spying on kids at home through school provided laptops w/ webcams– nice, eh?) . They teach people not to think for themselves, and to have to get jobs, rather than doing their own thing. That's another debate though.
By the way, it's not that I want to give people that license… it's that people just take the stuff, and unless they are using it for a commercial purpose, it's pretty difficult to find them and to deter them. Did you know much of the software that's pirated is given to the pirates by the software groups? It's a way of getting market branding. Take Softimage / 3dsMax / Maya – 3d applications. They used to be really expensive, and I knew software execs that would get the software to the crackers. That's how kids would get them, and start to play with them, and thus pursue a career with that or not. Since then a model called PLE has come out — Personal Learning Edition. It's a free, 100% working for using it…. but when you export it, you're limited to the output size, and it's branded. But it's great for learning the app. I'm not sure what they do these days, but… I know for a fact that there are a lot more users of the software going in the forums, chat rooms, and careers preaching the brand of the software they leeched… .which ends up in the corporations they join (or form) buying the software.
On the flip side, there are a lot of people who wrongly claim a Creative Commons License on content that they don't own. This is becoming more and more of a problem. You could be using an image that was wrongly assigned a CC license and not know it until the owner contacts you. I've had that happen before with an image from sxc.hu.
That's a great point Adam. Now the question lies on how that can be controlled.
RT @BrendanWenzel Bloggers Need to Stop Stealing and Start Asking http://tinyurl.com/yl9qpzh <Awesome Advice For Bloggers!
RT @brendanwenzel: Great conversation going on about whether content thieves. http://tinyurl.com/yl9qpzh
It's definitely wrong to use images from Google without asking permission from the owner. Such is an unethical gesture that will give negative feedback to you and your work.
Definitely it's content theft at best, copyright theft at worst. Unfortunately, enforcing copyright law is tedious. Especially in the case of images. Even if right click – save is disabled, you can always use screen capture to obtain it. And while screen capture can result in lower quality, someone who wants to obtain an image badly enough to resort to theft probably has the skills to restore some of that quality.
Definitely it's content theft at best, copyright theft at worst. Unfortunately, enforcing copyright law is tedious. Especially in the case of images. Even if right click – save is disabled, you can always use screen capture to obtain it. And while screen capture can result in lower quality, someone who wants to obtain an image badly enough to resort to theft probably has the skills to restore some of that quality.