I have always thought if you’re not claiming the photo as your own then it was ok.  If there was a negativity added to the  photo then I could see it otherwise (making fun of or changing a photo to make it disturbing/rude/etc).  Also, if the location that you get the photo from had some kind of “copyright” or “do not use” message then I would respect that.  But otherwise, if you’re posting photos online in a public place then it’s kind of out there and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using it.

From my way of thinking that’s about right. The problem with the picture posted on the other website is that a) the photo was either submitted to them or taken by them without the owner’s knowledge and b) the owner is actually a photographer, so those aren’t just “hey here’s a picture of my pet” photos those are part of a professional portfolio of photos.

It is a good lesson to be learned though. It’s so easy for people to just save pictures from websites and then post them as their own. I think it’s one thing to say “I saw this picture and it was just the cutest thing” and another to try and pass it off as your own, or when a commercial site has it posted with no credit to the photographer/owner.

I have some of my travel photos online on my business site (well, on my server, they’re not actually linked from my site yet) and I’ve got a nice big watermark across them to make sure that no one saves them to pass off as their own or use on another website.

I think it’s just disconcerting to see your own personal pictures posted on some other site without having any knowledge about it, and with no mention that they don’t belong to the site owner.  If there was some credit, or if it’s in something like a forum where you can say “I found this online” then that’s one thing, but to see it up on a commercial site must feel a bit like a violation of privacy, like something special has been stolen from you.

– Annette

I found on one site that in many parts of the world, including the US, Canada, and EU countries, people are automatically granted copyrights over their photos (under “How do I copyright my photos” http://www.flickr.com/help/photos/). So as a general rule, when you post a photo that you didn’t create, you should give credit to the source (such as the name of the rescue website where you got the photo). Sometimes the host of the pictures will request that you ask for permission before using their photos – which is generally a good idea for something like a school report or an article being submitted for publishing (for e.g. http://www.superiorhorse.net/copyright.html explicitly states who is automatically granted permission and how the photos should be cited when published).

The moderators of this forum can correct me if they disagree, but I would think for the purposes of this site, as long as you repost in the original thread as the picture was found, it should be pretty obvious who “owns” the picture and most people probably don’t mind the captioning. So if you took a picture I posted of Noelle and Wally on my bonding thread and reposted it right below with a funny caption – it’d be clear that it was originally my picture. But if you moved it to a discussion in a different thread, you might want to mention that it was my picture originally or, to be safe, contact me first to make sure it’s okay. Now, I personally don’t care – but I suppose you never know who’s trying to build a photography portfolio and doesn’t want their pictures drifting around the internet without credit being given where it’s due.

i think in network (used here) is fine.. if you choose to use someone elses photos elsewhere (such as LOLbunnies or the like) you should request permission first, even if you are saving them to your pc as a desktop ask permission, you never know how people feel about their photos being used and its just common courtesy first and foremost… people are generally flattered if their photos are being used anywhere but it would be much nicer if they knew about it.. i had a problem with my photo being used with out permission, i had to find it myself on accident really, i wasnt getting credit for it. someone else put their name on my photo. the best thing people can do is put watermarks on all their shared photos to avoid it happening, people can even steal your photos and sell them to different stocking companies and you would never know. I know I for one will go back to watermarking my photos again… FYI, watermarked photos look like this

i’m not 100% sure but hopefully BB will chime in if there are any legal issues with reposting pics. i was unsure because i posted those wild bunny and deer pics and they had a copyright. i did mention in the thread they were copyrighted and they were rec’d in an email…

no, they put their watermark on the photo (see top left) the caption was added by a member of RO because the photo was selected for caption contest… its very funny and i was for sure amused by the edit but the LOL website credited the photo to ro.com, not to myself as the owner nor the person who came up with the caption… the archive the photo as their own. The photo wasnt taken by them and i was very upset that the owner put her watermark on my photo, especially because it was taken without permission, had she just posted the pic without further editing it, i wouldnt have had a problem at all, its very flattering and i have had my photos used on websites, brochures, banners, exc its when they are used without prior permission is when i get upset..

]

 I do believe Beka is right there is a legal issue with taking photos too, especially when they are copywrited. Hopefuly BB can shed some light on the scenario of taking/using photos.. i know shes contacted me in the past requesting permission to use my photos here for the gallery and i really appreciate when people ask, even if they were placed in the gallery without my permission, i wouldnt mind if they were being used here, its when they are removed from this site and put on another site. In network is fine by me. Even when photos are copied and pasted somewhere else, stating this photo isnt mine but im sharing it with you, here is my source… would be acceptable when a photo is being taken from an email.

Wow I never even thought about this!  Glad you all are bringing this up. I wonder if we should not be posting other people’s youtube videos, which I just did this morning re: the cat & the baby bunny! Uh oh…

Honestly I think if people post their videos/pictures to a site like that then at that point it’s ok to borrow them for things or to pass them on.  If someone is posting their video to be seen on like youtube or yahoo videos then they want to share that with others.  I think there is something with photobucket (actually I know there is) to make your photo albums private so that people can only get in with a password.  That prevents people from posting your photo somewhere else.  The same with like myspace, you can make your page friends only and then only your friends can see your photos. 

Claiming a pictue as your own is different though but when you link to a photo it then shows who the photo/video belongs to…or atleast who posted it.

I don’t see a watermark on that photo (unless I am missing something) , I think they just put the lolbunnies part on there because the picture/caption combo was from that site. 

Tucker, the website addy on the photo is acting as their watermark/copyright. What they are in essence saying is hey this picture belongs to this website. Which of course it doesn’t. Upsetting enough for anyone, but particularly so for a photographer. If that picture is online with someone else taking credit for it, and she has it as part of her portfolio, then it casts doubt on her credibility and professionalism.

As for the video postings, I don’t think there’s a problem with that. When you upload something to a site like youtube you have the option of making it private or public, these have been made public. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone on here posting someone else’s video and claiming it as their own.
– Annette

the picture caption combo wasnt theirs. they copied the photo directly from rabbitsonline, the caption was thought up and edited to the photo through rabbits online, none of it was LOL at all whatsoever. all they did was copy/paste it to their website, had they thought of the caption and edited it that would be different.

it really i neither here nor there, if people dont want their photos being used without their permission my suggestion would be watermark them with your email address, webaddress, name, exc. I just wanted other people to know photos are being taken and thats all the way around, rabbit picutres, flower pictures, exc.

Oh sorry, I thought it was LOL that put their watermark/website addy on the top of the picture. So it was whoever put the caption on the picture that also put the LOL website on the top of the pic?
– Annette

no, LOL put their watermark on the photo at the top left corner, the member of RO put the caption on the photo, the owner/host of LOL copied the photo and then put the LOL website address on it and posted it on their website.

Ohhh ok, so they just took the whole thing in general from that site.  Gotcha.  I thought that they had came up with the caption and therefore that’s why they added the lolbunnies part because it was the “changed form” or something. 

You know what else I was reading, I was reading that certain sites in the terms of use say that photos can be taken from the site.  That’s kind of scary and it’s not something I’ve really ever looked into before.  It was a lot of legal mumbo jumbo that I didn’t understand fully but basically it said that if on the site’s terms of use it says that it’s public domain or free trade or I dunno lol I’m at work so don’t have the site open anymore, anyway..yea it was really weird and I didn’t think that an entire site could make that call for people posting. 

Ages ago, when the web was young, many people posted content ( pictures and words) with a creative commons license. As in “You can use my stuff as for free as long as you give me credit”

Then people started using other peoples words and pictures FOR profit – and gave them a little throw away credit ( just google the ad campaign that used flickr photos – Virgin maybe?)

So now, most people – including myself – have an “all rights reserved” copyright on our sites – including flickr.

Meaning that if you know you are taking something from someone – you need to ask and receive permission. In blogs, it can be as simple as stating that you found this at XYZ site – and linking back to their site. You are acknowledging ownership.

Photos are trickier – but the protocol should be the same. And a watermark isn’t a bad idea.

Sorry to seem so Legal – but I had a piece of my Intellectual Property stolen two years ago and had to grow up fast….

i agree with tuckerbunz first post, i wouldnt mind anyone using my photos as long as they werent claiming them as their own or doing anything negative with them,

great post bale, thats exactly what i was talking about…. there are ALOT of websites (some of them infact have been suggested for me to submit my photos to through this forum) that will buy your photos and pay you a percent, when photos are “Stolen” and sold to these websites the person who did nothign more then finding the photo first gets all the credit.. hey, it wasnt that the mirror pic was some gem of abbie, it was the principal. if someone is going to use my photos, thanks im flattered just let me know really.. i wouldnt have cared if i was just given the heads up first… now if you steal my real photos (similar to the frog or peacock) i would be pi$$ed to say the very very least, it took me years to learn photography, style, exc and im very proud of those photos..

Yes anyone can use my photos…

Umn, here’s where I think it crossed a line, taking a photo from somewhere and using it somewhere else…For instance someone asked as sometimes pics are taken from here, captioned and reposted here. I think that’s ok since they are being used here and usually in the same thread. I think the issue with this pic is it was stolen and put on another website with no credit to where it came from….I think anyways !!

There is this website I tried to send a copy of an outfit I was ordering.  However there was some kind of block on it that came up in written form when I tried to copy and paste. Saying these pics are for their site and the women in them wearing the outfits are for their site only and can’t be copied

I wonder how that is done the blocking of copying photos and such.  Would be nice to be able to do that to your photography site.

Also How do you watermark.   Does Photobucket have a special section for that.   Do you just go in and write your name or whatever on the online photo?

yes, K&K you have it right….

Bunny, its done with a processing program (such as photo shop, microsoft digital imager) there are all kinds of tutorials online showing how to do it.

This is an ongoing problem that has been bandied about in electronic publishing for many years now, for all of the different reasons you’ve sited. I’ve worked on many exhibits that required the reproduction of original artwork and photos in everything from brochures created for the show to a museum’s website showing what’s in their collection to the advertising used all year for an institution. I’ve had to be very thorough in obtaining copyright permission – which involves stating their copyright line EXACTLY as they want it to read. A really time consuming process when you are doing things the current legal (and ethical) way. It’s reproducing original work with permission. And some will even charge you a fee to use an image.

That said, I am one of the more frequent captioners here, so unless you’d all like me to ask first, I will hope that if anyone finds my caption even the least offensive (and that includes “don’t put words on top of my beautiful photo”) PLEASE tell me and I will remove it immediately! Also, so many of your pix are so adorable that I, too, have saved them in a BinkyBunny folder within my Cute folder. I can, and will, delete these if it’s not OK. I do not use them anywhere but here or on my desktop.

Watermark is a good way to go, and one way to make one yourself is to open a photo in a program where you can insert a text box, type in your statement, like (c) My Name 2008, and then go into the place where you can choose the type face, point size, etc. and select it for only about 30% – which makes the type fade and become partially transluscent. Then just save it all to one jpg (merges the layers automatically) or a jpg copy. Some programs make it easy by having a “watermark” setting. OH, anytime you want to write a clear copyright line, just type the paren symbol above the 9, then a lowere case c, then the close paren. above the zero. ( c ) Don’t leave the spaces like I just did. (c) Looks like that. Add you name, or business name (better for privacy. Make one up.) and the year. Usually it’s the year you made it, but it can be the year you’re posting it. Doesn’t expire for at least 74 years after that. The reason you see Mona Lisa on a mousepad for sale is because once an image is old enough and not protected by an artist’s estate, it becomes “Public Domain” and anyone can use it.

BT – those images that you are unable to DL are protected by software that they bought for their websites. Of course, it’s expensive for the average person to buy and use so few have it – mostly commercial retailers or large websites with a lot to protect, like the stock photo sites themselves.

Figure that if you posted a pix online, you’ve opened yourself up to the possibility that someone out there has copied it. Odds are you won’t find out. But if you do, like ADEE did, you know that your first computerized image has the date of creation on it so you can prove you had it first. I hope, ADEE, you pursue it and get that person or website to get it off of there. It’s a beautiful shot.

 as long as you arent ripping the video from youtube, then reuploading it isnt an issue.  simply using the embed tag provided by youtube and other video hosting sites you should be fine, but IANAL.

–

also here is a free site for watemarking images http://picmarkr.com/

pam, the individual did remove the photo from their website, i requested she either remove it all together or remove her webaddress from the photo. i dont doubt she still has a copy of it in her files but as long as shes not using it without my permission i dont care, i dont mind if people save to their pc from here as long as the photos arent being used without my knowledge (meaning, you submitting them to another website for your gain) otherwise i think were all friends here and certainly not out to hurt one another (and im not implying the person from LOL was either)