Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Important Information All Book Bloggers Should Know!

Disclaimer: The following is not being shared to make you paranoid, just to inform you of some of the things I have just learned and find relevant to a number of my followers. Take a look at it and you can do with this knowledge as you please. I just felt obligated to share and provide some thoughts on how I plan to proceed. Thanks for reading!


I was scrolling through Google Reader and came across this post about pictures on your blog on Angela's Anxious Life. As I started to read the bullet points she shared from another article, I immediately had to pull said article up. What I read come as a shock to me.

Here's the breakdown (as I see it):

If you use a picture without having permission from the originator, regardless of whether you list the source of the picture and didn't claim it was your own work, YOU COULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE AND SUED.

It's no joke. The blogger on the original article WAS sued. It's not something to be taken lightly. Sure, considering all things it is possible you may not have this happen to you... BUT it doesn't mean that it could NEVER happen.

Which is why I am working on a massive project of removing all pictures on my blog that are not my own and replacing them with either creative commons pictures OR my own. Also, I am strongly considering deleting my Pinterest account. I remember reading this article talking about the legal ramifications of being held liable if you pin a picture you don't have permission to pin. Pinterest in their Terms of Service clearly state under their disclaimer (#9) that you are held responsible for anything you pin.

Like I said, it may not ever become an issue. The bottom line for me is the following:

I do not want to do something illegal period AND I cannot afford to pay legal fees and compensation for use of a picture to the copyright owner.

I just wanted to share this with my followers, as it is something you may not be aware of. Take a look at all the articles I list below (which includes one on finding photos for your blog). It was a real eye opener for me and I hope it helps my fellow bloggers out as well!

~Jessica

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6 comments:

  1. Sigh! I've heard about this. It's really actually depressing to me. I figure if you put something on the internet there's a good chance it's going to get stolen. I don't give a dang if someone steals my pictures so I really don't get why others cdo but oh well.

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    1. I know, right? It seems so stupid. I could see if someone uses something that looks like it is from a professional photographer, but stuff that is commercialized, I don't understand why you can't share it. I mean, you can share an LOL cats picture from the Cheezburger Facebook page to your own Facebook page--why not your blog too? It's hard to understand where the line is, and why it gets drawn there. Same here, I could care less if my pictures get taken by others. If I did, I wouldn't share them. It's just a ridiculous situation.

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  2. Thanks for the heads up. Like Jenny I find this really depressing. Especially since when you think about it, if we put up a pic and totally reference it, it's almost free advertising for the person. I know that doesn't justify it in the slightest and I will most likely be going through my blog and taking pics down because I so cannot afford to pay anything, but still. It might just depend on the person who the photo belongs to I guess. Sometimes I think it's too hard being a blogger. Especially one as digitally challenged as me.

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    1. You'd think there would be some way for us to be able to utilize some of these pictures by just noting the origination. I mean, how many people have used LOLcats pictures in their posts? Like tons. Nice thing is, I did a Google search in creative commons and found a bunch of LOLcats pictures free for use. I'm planning on taking a bunch of pictures and uploading them for free use. It is difficult being a blogger. We get told that pictures make our posts better, then we can't use the pictures we want to. *sigh*

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  3. So freaking scary... and it's kind of worse because I KNOW all this, from my day job but... I just... I guess I didn't stop to think about how it could effect me personally. It's one of those things where you go 'but everyone else is doing it', and it just doesn't cut it. I'm going through and removing a whole lot of old stuff I thoughtlessly posted, too :/

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    1. Exactly how I was. I didn't think anything of it because I was told it was okay, saw others doing it and thought I would be fine. It's frustrating, but necessary. I think we'll all be able to pull through and find better ways of picture sharing and posting on our blogs.

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Thank you for commenting and happy reading!