There was a piece of ‘journalism’ recently on the New York Times website which has stirred up some emotion. You can find the original ‘article’ here http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/flickr-as-an-interior-decorator-tool/, and the follow up here http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/are-flickr-photos-fair-game-for-home-printing/.
The first article basically states that if you want some free pictures to decorate your walls just download them from flickr and print them on your home printer. Sonia goes on to state that in her opinion this is ‘fair use’ so not subject to copyright. The article has been widely linked from photo forums. There is some support for her viewpoint although notably it seems to be from non photogs. Personally I find it extremely rude and arrogant to simply assume you are entitled to take someone elses work because you want to and that because you aren’t making any money from it, it will be ok. It is fair to say that if you put your work online you have to expect that some of it will be misappropriated. That doesn’t mean that it is ok for that to happen or that when made aware you shouldn’t take the person to task.
I was somewhat surprised an esteemed publication such as the NYT would publish such a controversial article, at absolute best it is a gray area.
Now when I put a picture online to showcase my work I make my best effort to ensure it will be faithfully displayed on peoples screens, however I have no control over your browser or monitor so a picture may look poor when in reality it is not. However there is a fair chance it will be close. Prints can vary massively in quality and a budget home printer will not produce the same results as a pro lab. This misrepresents my work.
Some of the people who have commented have made far better arguments that I, if anything I just feel it is incredibly bad form \ rude to take without even asking. As one poster put it, it shows a lack of respect for other peoples work.
From now on I will be watermarking pictures. Its sad to have to do it but I guess I was naive in thinking people wouldn’t be so disrespectful. In general people are very respectful and will at least ask permission and it is virtually always granted, but some people are beyond belief!
