The differences of Picture Sharing and Picture Theft (Semi-OT)

From: Tethasandry J'kress <tethas_at_shaw.ca>
Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 15:27:15 -0700

Warning before you begin: This has only a little to do with Skunkworks,
through it has some and has to do with recent posts, and it slighty
rant-like. If you do't wanna hear it, best skip now...I won't be offended
^_^

I download and save many works of art I find on the internet for my own
personal picture library. I have even tried coloring a couple B&W's, and
sent both back to the original artists, but I'm not completely happy with
them and am certianly no expert. There are some things you can't acheive
well with a mouse, but thats a problem when youc an't hold a pen either. But
these are PERSONAL libraries, and in the case of the two I colored, the
original artist is always given full credit...they made the lines, I just
used a few tools to have fun. I even have a copy of the original work on
both of those pictures. If anyone of my freinds ask for a picture, I upload
it to them...I won't even pause to think about it. This is picture sharing.
I am not taking pictures not normaly found on the web and sendingt hem to
others, and I am not taking credit away from the artist. Usualy I can find
out who drew what, and if someone likes a particular picture, I send them
the artists webpage so they can see more from that artist. This, personaly,
I see nothing wrong with, and there is TRULY no way to stop this if anyone
wanted to. Freedom of information you could say, I guess.

Picture Theft is another matter entirly, and this is usualy what makes
artists mad. There are many ways of stealing pictures from an artist, not
all of them take any credit away from the artist either, through some of
them take money away. However the most obvoise way of stealing art online is
to download it fromt heir website, modifying it possibly in some way
(removeing any signatures and possibly making it look slightly different),
then reposting it as THEIR artwork. This is obvoise theft, and is illegal as
well, due to copyright voilation. You don't actualy have to register
something to make it copyrighted...signing original work is enough if you
HAVE the original signed version and can prove it is the original beyond
doubt. Registering just makes it alot faster and easier.
The less obvoise methods don't neccisarly take anything away from the
artist, but still comprimise theft. Downloading artwork, and then posting it
all online on your personal website or FTP may not seem bad, but if you
don't have permision, it can take away alot of reginition for the artist,
which is important online. When making a picture online, alot of artists
don't get any money for it at all, and thus the regenition is the most
important part. Most poeple who allow their art put on other poeples
websites insist on a link to their own website or a note about where the
pictures came from and how to contact the artist, and most poeple who do
this properly have already planned on that anyways.
Scanning artwork out of comics however directly takes money out of the
artists pocket. Yes, alot of us are poor, and we like seeing the work which
we can't get, but alot of poepel are also just greedy and would rather
download it for free then pay for it, even if it's pocket change to them.
This may not take any reconition from the artist, but it hurts them in a
worse way. Downloading these images is not exactly right nor wrong...some
poeple say that your encoraging the person to do this, but the truth is if
they started doing it, their gonna keep doing it unforently until stopped by
the law, rather poeple actualy LOOK at them or not. I openly admit I have
pictures that I know are illegal...but knowing they are, they are in the
list of things I will NOT send to others, and I would never actualy ask for
someoen to scan them in. Infact, if I find out who originaly scanned those
pictures in, the artist who drew them would get an email about it as soon as
I could track them down...thats the difference between supporting poeple
scanning pictures in, and just making use of what some dimwit already did,
and tyring to turn it into as good a thing as possible. Uploading your own
commisions is somewhat borderline...you PAID for the artwork, but it is
still theirs. Personaly I believe you should still ask the artist first, but
if you dont' claim to have made the picture this really doesn't take much
away from them, if anything at all.

So, if you have a picture that you scanned in yourself out of a comic, do
everyone a favour and delete it or at least not share it with anyone, unless
you already have permision from the artist. Your not helping anyone, and the
comic or picture you got it from works much better...it doesn't require you
to plug it into a wall to view, just a little bit of light! But if you
already have one someone else scanned in...don't go asking for more, but you
may as well keep what you have, through if you like it enough to keep it,
try and buy whatever it came out of to! This will at least support the
artist in some way. And don't share these either...rather you keep them or
not, sharing them is almost as bad as scanning them in the first place.

As a final note: I am not blaming anyone for anything, or trying to start an
argument. These are my PERSONAL views. If you find them just offensive or
wrong, Im sorry...but I request you just delete this message and move on. If
you want to discuss these calmly with me on a intelgectual level, either
email me personaly (tethas_at_shaw.ca), or try to keep it from getting out of
hand. My views are just that, no more right then most others, and I will
calmly discuss them with those who wish to do such, but flames, insults,
ect. will be ignored...I won't even bother reading them. Once again I'm
sorry for such a borderline post, and hope no one takes any offense to this
post. I just had one of those feelings where I simply HAD to say something
^_^

-Tethas

P.S. Yes, I know there are spelling errors. Most of these are typos...please
don't send spelling corrections however. If you don't understand a word and
desire to figure out what it is, email me privately and I will try to
explain or clarify things for you, but both my spelling and my typing are
not 100%, hwoever this is not a report or even something I expect alot of
you to read, so I don't see the point of spellchecking it.
Received on Wed May 05 2004 - 18:03:30 CDT