Maybe Mike, but it’s also a dead-end enterprise and you could waste hours and hours and hours chasing down every copyright violator. Not how I want to spend my time. It’s a zero sum game. Every minute spent doing this is a minute not spent shooting, editing, publishing, spending time with family, etc.

For me it’s really a matter of choosing to do the things that matter most to me more than anything. I see fighting copyright violators as something that is not a lot of fun and a huge time suck.

Dan heller has a particular good set of posts about CC and other forms of copyright, check it out here The Creating Commons and Photography

At least this has reminded me to change my photos on my alternative photostream to CC

“Gelegenheit macht Diebe” we say in Germany.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amit-agarwal/2158316772/

I thought to myself – I recognise that photo – yup it’s one of mine for when Scoble came across to London

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myotherphotos/329388073/in/set-72157594431986185/

Shouldnt someone have told me CNN were using my photos, especially with all rights reserved?

Confused

Nige

Dr. Grammar Guy

So, under advice, I messed with them. I changed the actual photo’s name and fixed the link in my original blog post.

But, I replaced the old name with an image that says, “This blog steals bandwidth.”

Check it out.

Jeff, assuming that I authorize the use explicitly. If they simply steal my photo and use it there is no liability on my part.

Recently a law firm approached me about using a photo that I took from the Icer Air ski jump thing in SF. I told them that I’d sell them the rights to use it but only if they got a model release from the skier in question. I never heard back from them. But certainly I’d never authorize anyone to use any of my photos that required model releases without the appropriate releases in place.

When I sold a photo of the Grand Lake Theater to Choice Hotels for a television commercial, they also got a property release and paid the Grand Lake Theater as well.

But really there is no liability for what people do with your photos on an unauthorized basis and a blog post that says I don’t care personally when people use my photos in violation of their license is not the same as granting authorization.

Certainly anyone who used one of my photos with a person in them though without authorization in a non-editorial or artistic manner would run the risk of liability from the subject in my photo.

If you post your photos on-line, you’ve already decided to share them.

Get over it.
(No you Tom, everyone else)