Putting Pinterest to Rest...so to speak, is not all that easy. It is quite simple to put a "Follow me on Pinterest" button on your blog but not nearly as straight forward, to figure out, the "this is a no pin site message". Pinterest's help page gives you the info, but for the life of me, I can't get it working. Now I do realize I'm not a technical genius....but why should I spend all this time stopping something I didn't start??.
Yes, yes...I realize my annoyance is starting to show through. Oh dear, and I'm usually so cheerful, well maybe not that cheerful.
- Pinterest Pandemonium
- Pinterest a Haven for Copyright Violations
- Why I Tearfully Deleted My Pinterest Inspiration Boards
Here is my personal experience. I recently posted photo's of Elizabeth Barton's work, with her permission, on my blog. Our agreement was, that I link all photos back to her website. Being very amazing work, of course it has been pinned and re pinned. The pins link back to my website but not to the specific post with all of Elizabeth's relevant info. Someone would have to dig through my blog to find them....are they going to do that? Not likely! I've seen pictures of Elizabeth's work pinned and her name is not even mentioned. I am trying to contact those "pinners" so that they give credit where credit is do. I'm finding this somewhat upsetting.
There is one more thing....and it scares me the most. If the information, in the above articles, is correct, the images are now owned by Pinterest!!!! How can this be?? I would so love this, not to be true.
Thank you all so much for your comments, especially Deborah O'Hara and Kit Lang for bringing some of this to my attention.
If you want to know if your work has been pinned, go to: http://pinterest.com/source/yourdomainname.com/
It might surprise you!
Until some of these issues are cleared up I'm putting Pinterest to Rest....so sad.
If anyone has more info, feel free......I would love to be able to create inspiration boards without violating any one's privacy.
It sounds like you've done the right thing because you aren't really that comfortable with the way Pinterest is going right now. Bravo for not mindlessly consuming and instead for opting out and standing up for your and others' digital rights.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all - to use the code, you have to put it in the html of your blog (under the design setting if you're using the old interface - don't know what it's under on the new interface as I'm not using it anymore.)
ReplyDeleteSecondly, if you google "pinterest no attribution" you'll find a wealth of articles about the subject (like this one: http://www.jeffturner.info/pinterest-still-pirate/) - it seems to be blowing up in the blogosphere at the moment.
Pinterest has responded - with a non-answer, (http://blog.pinterest.com/post/17949261591/growing-up) which I find very suspicious.
Thanks for such a great post I think I might disable my blog for now and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteBecause I don't understand all the legal information have you looked into clipix?
ReplyDeleteI don't believe your assumption about Pinterest owning the images is true based on this quote from their Terms of Service:
ReplyDelete"Cold Brew Labs does not claim any ownership rights in any such Member Content and nothing in these Terms will be deemed to restrict any rights that you may have to use and exploit any such Member Content."
I sincerely hope that you are right.
DeleteAgreed. Say I take a pamphlet that uses copyrighted images (with permission of course) and post it to a board at Starbucks. Does Starbucks now own the rights to that photo? Sounds crazy, doesn't it. People are attribute (and I suppose web traffic) crazy these days- even to go so far as to claim that they have copyrights that they do not have. While I would say it is never okay for someone to take an image and take claim for having had produced the work, or publishing it in book, but social bookmarking? See if I were to take my phone and take a picture of the image on the computer screen, that would be my own derived piece needing no attribution. I wonder if people would be less offended with screen captures instead of direct pins.
DeleteAgreed. Say I take a pamphlet that uses copyrighted images (with permission of course) and post it to a board at Starbucks. Does Starbucks now own the rights to that photo? Sounds crazy, doesn't it. People are attribute (and I suppose web traffic) crazy these days- even to go so far as to claim that they have copyrights that they do not have. While I would say it is never okay for someone to take an image and take claim for having had produced the work, or publishing it in book, but social bookmarking? See if I were to take my phone and take a picture of the image on the computer screen, that would be my own derived piece needing no attribution. I wonder if people would be less offended with screen captures instead of direct pins.
DeleteThe problem isn’t really Pinterest as much as the people who are using Pinterest, the same people you should want to come to your site in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe wonderful thing about Pinterest is that I’ve learned about so many people, blogs, and work, that I would not have learned about otherwise.
I think that it would be a huge mistake to deny people easy access to pinning things from your site. And denying us this would not prevent it all together, ever heard of Print Screen? And if someone ever uses Print Screen on you, you should see it as a majorly huge compliment that someone liked your work so much they went through the trouble of doing that.
Those who embrace technology are more like to remain relevant as that’s the way everything is headed.
The hostility I am feeling from you about Pinterest makes me feel like you don’t want people to see your work and I’m starting to not feel welcome here. I sincerely hope you will reconsider your stance.
I'm sorry if you feel that way....I'm happy to share my work, but my main concern is with attribution. I feel that we need to respect each other's work and give credit where credit is due.
DeleteJessica, is correct; "hostility" was not the right word. I should have used the word you already used yourself, "annoyance".
DeleteI understand your desire for the right people to get credit for their work. That's great. To me, most of the time it seems that attribution isn't difficult to see, if not in the title, at least most of the links are correct. There are still many that aren't, it's true. I have come across this problem myself and haven't found it too difficult to figure out the original source. Sometimes it's as easy as just scrolling through the blog a couple of pages until I find it, other times I've thrown the image into Google search and scrolled through until I'm satisfied that I've found the original location.
If people would be a little more thoughtful as they pin it would solve that problem. Unfortunately, people are human and make mistakes. I don't think that's a great reason to all-together forgo something with so many positives. But we are all certainly entitled to our opinion. And as this is your blog, your opinion is the one everyone is coming here to read.
I will say again, that I have learned about so many people, blogs, and work through Pinterest, that I would not have learned about otherwise.
Best of luck to you with your decisions about Pinterest.
I really agree with you, that the concept is wonderful, I just want to be very careful with other peoples work. Thanks for taking the time, with some more input, into our discussion. It is really good to hear both sides. For now people can still pin from my blog but I probably won't be doing any pinning myself. Perhaps Pinterest will clear up some of these issues in the future. I'll probably follow Jessica's advice and look into watermarking my photos...which is probably a good idea any way.
DeleteThanks again
Have a great day
Hey Ma (your worry line is showing...tee hee) there's no way they can own images that were distributed without the permission of the owner...so I won't be too worried about that, and a site that encourages pinning would run up against this issue on a regular basis. As for the distribution issue without credit, a quick fix is to use a basic watermark software...voila! http://www.visualwatermark.com/
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with anonymous' view that you are being hostile. You are just thinking about distribution from a print-based paradigm view when you need to embrace the fluidity of social networking and sharing (and take a couple measures to ensure credit is given)
that's my two cents...
-Jessica xo
You are probabably right Jess.....that worry line remark got me laughing. I'll check into the watermark site.
DeleteHave a great day
i've been struggling with pinterest too...my issue is attribution. i saw an amazing quilt pinned that i knew was done by a friend of mine...i clicked...back to some site that took her picture without permission, from another site who had taken her picture, and there was no way to find the original owner of the work..people deserve credit for their work at the minimum. i commented and linked to her site, but that's just a small gesture. i know pictures that are not mine, that i've had permission to post have been pinned...the link then comes back to me and not the originator. i get that people get inspiration and all that, but shouldn't you know where your inspiration is coming from?Maybe watermarking is the way to solve the problem.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting. I've just done a post on this because a dear blogging friend is having real problems with repinning from her blog. May I add a link on my post to yours?
ReplyDeleteThe way that copyright law works in the U.S. is that you reserve all exclusive rights as the originator or creator of your work unless you transfer those rights to other party by offering a license or granting permission for use. If someone else pins your copyrighted material they do not have the right to transfer licence or permission to Pinterest to utilize it. It would be a violation of copyright law for Pinterest to attempt to distribute, sell, reprint, or otherwise republish your material without your direct, written consent. Yes, lengthy litigation would most likely be involved to uphold the legal statue, but without your legal permission to use your original material, Pinterest would most certainly be in violation of the law. Here is an excerpt taken from Title 17 of the U.S. code (the actual copyright law document):
ReplyDelete§204 · Execution of transfers of copyright ownership
(a) A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not
valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or such owner’s duly authorized agent.
I hope this helps to clarify the legal standpoint a bit. Great information though! It is really important when pinning to be conscience of who made the work and crediting them appropriately!
I read this blog.It really wonderful and amazing.It informative for us.Thanx to share with us.
ReplyDeletemyob courses
Thanks so much.
DeleteYes,you have gotten a lot of nice input on this topic. I think you and I are in the small minority. At least maybe some are thinking a little and weighing the pros and cons before jumping in head first.
ReplyDelete