Sigh. Can I start a post with that?! This is just a really hard topic to face. But it has to be done. I want to start by saying that I’m torn. And I haven’t fully made a decision regarding whether I want to stay or leave the awesome inspiration spot that is pinterest.
The debate in the art/photography community is raging at the moment. In my mind, the jury is still out. But, I also have this feeling, that because the emotions are running higher each day, that this will eventually be brought before a court. And I do find that a bit scary.
I just wanted to share a few articles today that have gotten me thinking on the issue. And leave things open for you to make a decision, also keeping in mind the disaster that was Napster, when it finally came to the courts back in the day…
Why I tearfully deleted my pinterest inspiration boards – an opinion given by a lawyer and photographer, sharing the research that she’d done and the conclusions that she has drawn.
How Your Business Could Get Sued for Using Pinterest – an article in the Boston Biz Journal addressing concerns over the TOU.
LinkWithLove.org – Kal Barteski is a talented artist who has been expressing concern over the site for a while. Her organization actually exists to educate people on copyright issues and she has really great material on her site! You’ll notice that I keep one of her badges on the right side of my blog, because I believe strongly in what she’s doing.
One artist/photographer that I’ve come across has had a positive spin on it. And I do recognize the advantages of the traffic and buzz that it generates. I like his take that someone who is truly interested in paying will always follow through to the source. He feels that the benefits outweigh anything else. His article is here – Why Photographers Should Stop Complaining About Copyright and Embrace Pinterest.
I have to say, that as much as I have enjoyed using the site, at the moment, I’m leaning toward getting rid of my boards. Until they find a way to resolve the issues that are cropping up. Such as, when the image is uploaded to the site – THEY have full rights to it. It’s on their servers. And to get it off, you have to personally go through their channels to remove it. Which has proven difficult for some.
Botttom line. Educate yourself. And make an informed decision. Read and be aware of the Terms of Use. I also see the they’ve added a copyright dispute form to their site, seemingly since this has become an issue with a lot of people. But the choice is yours.
Update: I love the thoughts that Royanna, owner of Divine Digital shared in the comments, and contacted her about sharing them here up in the post. She offered some insight on her experiences as a digital designer. This was her response:
As designer that regularly experiences piracy of my work…I too am torn with the issue. On one hand…I think “Piracy has gotten out of hand and something drastic has to happen” and on the other…I think “people have too much time on their hands and worry too much about stuff that really doesn’t matter!”
9 years I have been in the Digi Scrapbook industry…9 years of chasing down those that steal my work everyday…but on the flip side 9 years and about 50,000 personal customers later…I truly weigh the two. I used to be really emotionally vested into chasing down the pirates…but that chase has now dwindled…and I find myself these days finding solice in the group that matters…my customers….
Pinterest for me has become a point of engagement….not only with the world but with my customers as well….and yes I get why photographers are angry about Pinterest saying the images are theirs…and that point makes me a little upset…but Pinterest is still in its infancy and has room yet to grow. I have been with them since the beginning…being a site tester…and they have come a long way since its inception. So I think rather than boycott by deleting we need to band together to make changes…to educate and help them grow…
So there is no way on this green earth that I will get rid of my Pinterest. I love the site…I love the the hours spent purusing the pins…and I love that Pinterest has opened up a world of connection to the world…a connection to so many new things, things I didn’t know existed, and had not been for Pinterest as a positive vehicle, I would have never engaged with…so no I won’t delete…and if I get sued…then I do…but I refuse to let fear stop me from engaging with the amazing world that exists out there!
I love hearing honest feedback and discussion on the issue! The comments are open. Please, post your thoughts!
As designer that regularly experiences piracy of my work…I too am torn with the issue. On one hand…I think “Piracy has gotten out of hand and something drastic has to happen” and on the other…I think “people have too much time on their hands and worry too much about stuff that really doesn’t matter!”
9 years I have been in the Digi Scrapbook industry…9 years of chasing down those that steal my work everyday…but on the flip side 9 years and about 50,000 personal customers later…I truly weigh the two. I used to be really emotionally vested into chasing down the pirates…but that chase has now dwindled…and I find myself these days finding solice in the group that matters…my customers….
Pinterest for me has become a point of engagement….not only with the world but with my customers as well….and yes I get why photographers are angry about Pinterest saying the images are theirs…and that point makes me a little upset…but Pinterest is still in its infancy and has room yet to grow. I have been with them since the beginning…being a site tester…and they have come a long way since its inception. So I think rather than boycott by deleting we need to band together to make changes…to educate and help them grow…
So there is no way on this green earth that I will get rid of my Pinterest. I love the site…I love the the hours spent purusing the pins…and I love that Pinterest has opened up a world of connection to the world…a connection to so many new things, things I didn’t know existed, and had not been for Pinterest as a positive vehicle, I would have never engaged with…so no I won’t delete…and if I get sued…then I do…but I refuse to let fear stop me from engaging with the amazing world that exists out there!
I suppose I’ve made my viewpoint on Pinterest (and on the copyright whiners) pretty clear at this point, but seriously — all of the uproar just makes me sad. It makes me sad that something (Pinterest) that can be such a huge source of not just inspiration for people (like it is for me, as a primarily visual person) but also *traffic for these very same whiners*….is getting so much attention from people who clearly just don’t *get* it.
A friend of mine checked her referrer stats a few days ago. Her blog usually gets around a hundred hits a day. Respectable for a fairly new blog. In *one day* she had more than *ten thousand people* find her from just a few pins. Ten THOUSAND people. She couldn’t figure out why her Etsy had sold out…and found it was from pins.
I fail to see how something that’s clearly so good for people with blogs/visual components to their sites is the center of such a whirlwind of crazy. The TOS is standard for a social sharing site (refer to, say, the Instagram TOS or the Facebook TOS — same exact verbiage that’s being questioned now, etc.), and yeah, there’s some people that don’t do it right. There are also people saving images directly from webpages (and in some cases, putting those images on cafepress stuff without permission)…withOUT pinterest. (A friend of mine, Travis, is an illustrator by trade, and has found on more than one occasion, someone’s ganked a drawing and put it on a t-shirt without attribution or license. It happens.) But to throw the baby out with the bathwater is just dumb, imho.
Moreover, this *very same thing* was all the rage with the crazy YOU ARE STEALING people…about Facebook. The same Facebook that most of those “everyone is stealing from me” people are *still on*, who still post images and such, and who moved on to something else when it became clear that the majority of FB users didn’t care. (And, incidentally, they had nothing to care about — it’s the same clause about the license, which is necessary for anyone to see your pins/posts/pictures anywhere other than your personal computer — that caused the uproar with FB, too.)
In a year, after they’ve poisoned pinterest with their paranoia, they’ll move on to ruining the next thing that comes up, because unhappy people must be unhappy. ::headdesk:: Personally, I think that it’s just because Pinterest is supposedly “the next big thing”, and is getting media coverage right now — some people feel that if something’s mainstream, it must be Evil and therefore stopped….ruining everyone else’s experience in the process.
Seriously, though — enjoy it if you like it. Ignore the arguments. Don’t listen to the haters. Do what makes your heart light and your pen move.
As an avid Pinterest user I can honestly say I was wondering when or if anyone would be upset over Pinterest. I definitely agree after much thought that they definitely shouldn’t “throw the baby out with the bath water.” I also agree, that Pinterest is a great tool for small business owners to gain exposure.
It’s such a great place for inspiration and we really need to focus on the REAL history behind copywrite laws. To much surprise to many (even myself) copywrite laws were not put into place for the sake of ideas being “copied.” The laws were actually put into place in order to keep people creating instead of continually focusing on re-creating the same things over and over again. Let’s face it, if we always just copied everything we wouldn’t further ourselves much (i.e. technology as one example). This is how we went from the first telephone and electricity on to iPhones and iPads etc….the list goes on…
Well, overall I think Pinterest inspires people to create more and add-on to others ideas not neccessarily just copy them. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an idea that sparked an even bigger idea! I think as long as the original source is being credited Pinterest users shouldn’t be quick to delete their INSPIRATION boards! Inspiration is a good thing =) and I love the feeling when someone pins one of my creations!!!
*copyright LOL (spell check!)