Beware Bloggers, Careful of Pics You Use in Your Blogs

Beware Bloggers, Careful of Pics You Use in Your Blogs. This is something that is a growing issue, and that many people everywhere on the internet need to be careful of. 

Welcome to LilacsNDreams everyone, and glad to have you here. I apologize for being late today, extremely late it appears. I have been roaming through a few blogs, news flashes with yahoo, reading on google, and etc. There is a lot out there to see, and read. I could get lost with it sometimes too. Know what I mean? 

As Pinterest became more popular, the idea of pinning things you found on the internet was a neat idea! Sometimes we see something sooo cute we want to save that picture for a reminder, or to also share in other ways with others as well. As I have always mentioned, and have it noted in my side bar, I do not mind things being shared from here. It's an honor, and a privilege when someone wants to pass along what you have shared. But, keep mind that some of the pictures and articles from here are written by me, and sometimes things come from other places that I do respectfully try to note to you the names, places, and share the links with you too.

Pictures on the internet is a very big thing. Many like to view, many like to dream, others will share, some people copy the pictures for their needs, and will wrongfully say how it is something that they did. Keep in mind there are some people who make a living with their pictures, photographers, designers, artists, and so on. They also like to be seen as the rest of us do showing our work, what we found, and the things we can do, and are capable of doing too. So, why ruin it for those who trust that far with sharing things on the internet? 

I myself am a casual blogger, and I have learned my way into blogging by watching many others, reading what others had to offer, what they did, how they did it, etc. I learned soon that sometimes a post with a picture looked rather nice, and was quite appealing too. Kind of like eye candy in a store. Gets the attention, and is appealing to read further. Over time it appeared that many would get their pictures from images at google, and within other search engines too. Yes, some would share their own pictures as well. Along with these pictures some shared where they came from, or who they belonged to. Sometimes the pictures had nothing shared with them of where they originated from. With the pictures you would see different disclaimers being noted about using images, and etc. Yet, some of these things done is still not good enough to protect ourselves with. There is so much out there to learn about the copy right laws, about the photos that are actually approved to be used at random by others that we find, about using pictures of others without approval. Then, of course, the worst of it is what can, and will come of it when someone is sued by the original owner to the picture being used. 

With Fair Use it does not matter if you:
• link back to the source noting the photographers name
• you did it innocently
• if you have a disclaimer on your site
• if you didn't claim the photo was yours
• if you remove a picture upon request from your site it still does not remove you from what charges that they can still file against you

So many more things to mention, but know that it does not release you from liability. You are violating copyright if you have not gotten a permission from the copyright holder, or using the pictures of a public domain, creative commons, etc. 

So, what to do?
1.) If you are using images from the internet without approval on your blogs and places, know that you could be violating copyrights, and could be sued for it too. The chance of this really happening is not high, but it could really happen. 

2.) Need to search for photos that are approved for use without any issues. 
• Creative Commons photos that are free to use. This means that the photo would have to be attributed to the owner, and link back to their site.
• Wikimedia Commons has some free media files that anyone can use. 
• You could always buy a subscription to a stock photo site. Some of them can be pricey, so you might want to shop around too.
• Find photos that are in the public domain that can be used.

3.) You could also take your own photos, and share the love with others too. 

4.) As always use sites like Pinterest, or even Tumblr with caution. When you pin something to sites like that you are claiming you have a legal right to that picture. If by chance the owner of the photo would come after the company for violations, you will be the responsible party. 

5.) Safest thing to do would be to assume that all pictures you see have a copyright with it. If you are not 100% sure if you can legally use it, then don't use it. Better to be safe. 

So, please protect yourselves, and also remember to respect the rights of others. I am in no way someone with a legal background, but am offering you advice from many horror stories that have been read on the internet, and stories about some reporting of these things happening to them legally. Keep in mind that this does not only apply to blogging, but also places like Facebook too. I hope that maybe this will help you think a little bit before copying that next picture, maybe sharing something you are not suppose to share, and keep in mind the rights of others too.

Thanks so much for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams this evening. It has been a pleasure as always, and I look forward to you visiting again. Take care everyone, and see you again soon.

    

Some Internet Copyright Laws and Some Things to Know

Some Internet Copyright Laws and Some Things to Know.

Welcome back to LilacsNDreams, and happy to have you visiting. Todays topic is something that is an ongoing issue. Some have problems with it, some have not experienced any issues, and some are experiencing issues all the time. I once had an issue with my blog posts being copied by someone with wordpress. I don't mind the copying as long as I know about it, and most of all am given the credit for it too. Something we all try for is to make sure we get the credit for anything of ours that is seen on this big old internet. 

Through a little research I found that the corrected form of copyright notice is "Copyright or ©, Date, by Author/Owner". Everything that is from April 1, 1989 is copyrighted by the owner/author whether it has a notice of it, or not. All internet users should assume the work is copyrighted unless otherwise specified by the author. "I grant this to the public domain" Anybody can copy, take, or use without giving credit to the owner IF this has been announced. You can also contact the author, and be granted permission of use too. The Copyright Law is Civil Law. 

You can go to many places, research the internet for Copyright Laws, and read many things about this issue. Many times you will see the same thing being repeated. Some things will be said again in different ways with different references. Doesn't hurt to hear some of the repeats for us to understand some of it. 

Copyright protects the original works of authorship which include literacy, musical, dramatic, and artistic works like poetry, novels, movies, computer software, architecture, and songs. Copyright Does NOT protect facts, systems, ideas, or some methods of operations. Although it might protect the ways these things can be expressed. 

Names are NOT protected by Copyright Law. Although some names may be protected by trademark law. Does not protect titles, slogans, names, and short phrases. In some cases again they may be protected as trademarks. Some of this came from different topics at http://www.copyright.gov 

Copyrights protect the creative expressions that have been reduced to a tangible form such as books, pieces of recorded music, computer programs, screen plays, photographs, paintings, motion pictures. 

Trademarks protect brand names, literally marking items in trade. The idea behind the trademark is to protect the consumer by giving them some confidence that items branded with a certain mark are authentic, and come from where they purpote to come from.

Patent protects innovation. While you cannot copyright an idea, you can patent one. www.benedict.com   

Copyrighted works on the internet include software, news stories, screenplays, novels, pictures, graphics, usenet messages, and even email. In fact, the frightening reality is that almost everything on the internet is protected by copyright laws. 

At one time for afforded copyright protection you had to put the world on notice by attaching a copyright notice to the work. This is no longer the case, but it is still to attach a copyright notice with copyrighted work in order to be eligible for certain types of damages. 

4 Elements That Are Needed: The term of copyright or the copyright symbol - The year of copyright - Name of the copyright holder - and use the phrase "All Rights Reserved"

Foreign country copyrights can be a little bit different than we have here in the United States too. Like they use the symbol, and we can use the word copyright in lieu of the symbol. 

Please keep in mind that the copyright may not always be the author, or creator of the work. Companies should be considered, their employees working for them, and etc. 

So, when we are using pictures, or showing pictures that came from some where else we need to remember to give the proper credit of where we got those pictures from. Kind of like pinning with Pinterest making sure the proper credit is given, or when we show things with our blogs or websites we need to give the proper credit also. 

Hope this little tidbit was helpful to some of you. If you Google, or Bing some of this you can get more information as well. There is a lot out there. Thanks so much for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams. Come back to visit again soon.