Over at the pccAlumni Facebook (for pcCrafter Hugsisters) page, there are a bunch of recent posts and links to Pinterest Boards that are "pinning" copyrighted images by many many of our Favorite former pcc artists, such as Laurie Furnell, Shelly Comiskey, Carolee Jones, and on and on. Annie Lang and several other artists aren't spared either.
There are also plenty of Boards that PIN digital stamps or black and white line art that is copyrighted by my favorite artists.
Many of us are posting comments on the Pins found on the BOARDS we find with these graphics or digital stamps pinned. But it would keep any/all of us busy 24/7 to keep up with the rampant digital piracy and illegal file sharing that is out there. Not just on Pinterest but at other sites as well such as Picasa, and Photobucket too - way too many to constantly find and then try to contact the artist themselves - hoping they can take action. Artists want to spend their time Creating not chasing down these types of Boards or websites or file sharing sites etc. Some of the FREE DIgi Sites I share on this blog may have in the past or currently be sharing illegal images, I don't visit them all every day, but I'm hopeful that the majority are doing things legally.
And as soon as one or more images or complete graphics sets are removed from Pinterest, or Blogs and Websites, I and others come across MORE!!!
Pinterest just happens to make this type of thing "EASY" to do. And most gals who PIN and Re-Pin these "darling, and cute" clipart images, haven't the foggiest idea that they are doing anything wrong. After all, they see the IMAGES everywhere on Pinterest or Online - and they think if its FREE for the Snagging & Downloading, its FREE for the Sharing. And most offenders will not have a clue where the "Original" image came from. Even ones that the pin says was "user uploaded" - might be by someone who snagged the image from another place Online, saved it to their computer and then uploaded to their PINTEREST pages for all to ENJOY
The really bad folks are the ones that DO KNOW who owns the Copyright to these image and what they are doing is ILLEGAL and against the Terms of Use from the websites they either bought them from or found for FREE online at legitimate Free image sites (but that the owners specify - for PERSONAL USE Only and that they aren't to be Shared or "PINNED" without the orginal website owners permission) or were illegally shared the images from a friend or website they trusted.
Back in the day when PCCrafter was selling clipart sets (Creatables) and had their monthly HugClub offerings - there were actual "Groups" formed, where gals each chipped in a little bit (maybe a dollar or less) of money each month, and one person would buy Graphics sets or the Monthly Club content - and then Share their information with the *Group* and each of the group would go in and grab everything!!! OR they would upload their bounty in zipped files to an online file sharing sites like 4shared and then share that link. Its still going on today with other sites that sell clipart sets now. I find digital scrapbook freebie sites with entire or partial kits by former pccrafter artists offered online almost weekly. Many of these sites are owned by gals in foreign countries, who don't think that our US copyright laws or any copyright laws or terms of use "apply" to them. They just want to be "liked" by being so generous in giving away stuff.
I came across a Blog last week, created by a very nice lady who lives in the mid-west USA, who was giving away "digital scrapbook layout" pages for others to download. But most of the pages she made and offered for free download, used clipart from pccrafter or other sites, that don't allow for such usage. I was going to email her, but thought - I'm tired of being a monitor or catcher & notifier of these types of goings on. And really, the images themselves on the layouts, would be difficult for anyone to separate them from the backgrounds and do anything with. And I have no idea if this woman, got those images online for free or if she bought them online and just feels she can do what she wants with them, all in the spirit of being "nice" to others. And she thinks she is just using her talents and creativity in her spare time to freely share with her visitors to her blog.
It's just that pccrafter and/or their former artists - DO NOT allow in their terms of use, for templates or their clipart copyrighted images to be used in creating such items as digital layouts for others to just put their photos in, shared for free or for a price, in any way ONLINE, period!!
On Pinterest, I have found wonderful ideas, creativity and just about any topic/theme, I might be interested in, shared on created Boards. I FOLLOW quite a few Boards - (but I personally do NOT create any Boards of my Own)...so I know it has its GOOD SIDE and good Intentions of most of its users. But it really has left a sour taste in my mouth when it comes to Clip art *pin* filled Boards and/or on any Pinterest Boards that don't give credit to the Original sources of *each* of their PINS.
I also want to admit that I personally have in the past been cited myself for posting something I shouldn't have or did not have permission to. I was notified by the either Google or website owners etc. and asked to remove my posts or links or images etc. So I'm not all goody two shoes myself. I didn't do things deliberately . There used to be a service, its probably still around that allowed you to "share it" - and so I would, but I didn't always choose wisely on what I shared. Some websites were appalled that such a service existed and was allowing anything from their websites or blogs to be "shared" just by pressing the button on our internet tool bars and then the item was automatically shared on my blog. And I am not talking about websites that have their own "share it", "like it", "pin it"and every other type of sharing buttons that are available to blog and website owners that they place themselves on their sites, so that they can spread the word about their site or business. I was using a 3rd party utility that put a button in my tool bar, and I could share anything I wanted easily and it would come through on my blog, without me seeing if the website owner allowed such sharing of website content, posts, or if images were watermarked or gave credit to original posters of the images etc.
I just wasn't doing things the right way and should have known better and should have absolutely asked first a website owner, before "I Shared" a post or link or image. And I'm sure there are plenty of "me's" out there too, who aren't trying to do things the wrong way - but we need to shape up, and pin / post / fly right/write!
Ok I'm now off my digital soapbox. Happier posts coming soon :-)
