Artists's be wary of where you post pictures of your artwork. Facebook is a popular venue for posting pictures. You retain the copyright, but did you know that you are granting them license to use and display your photos. http://www.facebook.com/legal/copyright.php?howto_report#!/help/?faq=12008 As you all know, by posting information on Facebook, it is saved to their data system FOREVER. On Facebook's policy page, they state in their content section that "One of the primary reasons people use Facebook is to share content with others. Examples include when you update your status, upload or take a photo, upload or record a video, share a link, create an event or a group, make a comment, write something on someone’s Wall, write a note, or send someone a message. If you do not want us to store metadata associated with content you share on Facebook (such as photos), please remove the metadata before uploading the content." In other words, do not post any pictures on to Facebook, if you do not want them to store the data that is associated with the photo, which is the photo itself. It is a rhetorical statement.
An alternative to Facebook is Flickr Creative Commons.
Flickr Creative Commons is a non-profit alternative to full copyright. Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation to make it easier for people to share and build on the work of others, working within the rules of copyright. They provide free licenses and other "legal tools to mark the creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof." Creative Commons seems to me the best way to share your work on the internet as well as holding the legal rights to your photos.
A synopsis of Creative Commons copyright policy
-Attribution means that you allow others to copy, distribute, display and perform your copyrighted works and other works based on it, if they give you credit.
-Noncommercial means that you let others copy, distribute, display and perform your work, but for non commercial purposes only.
-No Derivative Works means that you let others copy, distribute, display and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based on it.
-Share Alike means that you allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.
By a comparison of these two website's privacy policy, you have much better control over the work you post under Flickr Creative Common's policy. You have no control of what Facebook and what other users do to your work on Facebook, but under Creative Commons, you have legal rights to your work and you own the photo that you post on their website. You pretty much lose your rights to the photo that you post on to Facebook.
Of course in addition you can always add a watermark to the photo that your uploading, but that does not cover legal rights to your property, i.e. your photo or your artwork. Facebook seems to me as an unsafe place to post anything at this point. After doing this research, I realize that I should change where I post my pictures of my own artwork. I think the safest place to post my artwork is under Flickr's Creative Commons. I am worried about my rights to my work and that people could possibly copy and reproduce my work.
Excellent review of privacy and artwork! I actually never considered the aspect of sharing artwork (not just photography, but pictures OF one's artwork) and having the work stolen online. Also, I had no idea that Facebook claims to own any and all pictures that are uploaded to the site. I understand when we put pics on the web, they stay there forever, but I really had no idea Facebook takes these photos into its own account and gains rights over them. This really doesn't seem fair, and with the newest changes to Facebook that display "Pictures you might like" or "Who is in this photo?" or "Tagged Pictures" on the right side of the Home News Feed, it makes me wonder how many strangers are able to view the pictures that I privately take! I was aware of Flickr and obviously Facebook, but you could also include Community Webshots and Tumblr and Xanga or other blog sites in your research. As a personal user of Tumblr, I know a lot of people post original poems, quotes, photographs, thoughts, and more that other people can see within minutes due to "Reblogging" and "Liking". Kinda like Twitter...only more artsy. I know I typed up a quote and posted it on Tumlr; my one friend "liked" it and reblogged it, and within a day, 46 other strangers had liked my quote and reblogged it on their posts. Scary-- all you have to do to remove the photo/quote credit is to simply delete the "Reblog" data that comes up before posting the blog on your site...that includes someone else's art! I love to use Tumblr, but I'll definitely think twice before posting photographs and poems on Tumblr-- for all I know, they could end up traveling around the world in a matter of minutes.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your blog-- it's awesome and interesting to hear about technology and art!! Keep up the good work!
Great research and interesting findings. It is always good to know that this class is helping raise the awareness of protecting our privacy online.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent post to get us all thinking that copyright law applies to work in general and to art in particular! I think the specific explanations of things such as creative commons are VERY important to the reader who needs some detail and/or context before they understand your point(s). Your interest and experience with art brings a unique perspective to this issue that feel people have considered. Of course discussing ANYTHING related to Facebook is of interest to almost everyone. Your thought to consider work on Facebook too was brilliant and just one more thing to make this post a winner.
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