I consider myself a little more cautious than some with regards to copyright. Most (maybe all) of the photos on my blog are my own. But I read a post today on Roni Loren’s blog about image copyright infringement that sorta blew my mind. See, I have recently fallen in love with Pinterest. I even blogged about it here. But in Roni’s post she talks about those user agreements we all agree to without reading.
Apparently, if I had read the agreement before checking the “agree” box I would have learned that Pinterest expects its users to only pin and repin content that they (me, the user) have the legal right to. So, only photos that I have express permission from the image owner to use.
Ehh…
…well…
….sure.
But how do I know if I can repin something from Joe Piner (I made that name up btw)? How do I know he had the right to pin that photo in the first place?
The answer is that I don’t, and so I can’t repin it. Which takes all the fun out of Pinterest. I mean I suppose I could go through and passively like all the pretty photos, but then I can’t see them later. 
As a writer I recognize that copyright is important. So reading about this on Roni’s blog was a face palm moment for me. Of course, if I continue to use Pinterest, I may be stealing, unknowingly, but still, using other people’s images/ideas without permission is stealing. I don’t want to be a part of that.
After reading about Roni’s experience with her blog and her warning about Pinterest, I’m not sure I am comfortable using the site. I may have to delete my account all together.
Anyone else out there on Pinterest? What are your thoughts?
If I go looking for a cool picture and I find one and Pinterest doesn’t let me pin it because “sharing has been disabled by the user,” I don’t go taking screen shots of it. That’s where I draw the line.
People make screen shots to get around copyright on Pinterest??? No way! How could you want to pin something that badly?
I’m not on Pinterest, but when I read Roni Loren’s post I remember wondering what the point of the re-pin button was. I’m worried Pinterest will start causing people problems…
I know. It scares me that we are all clamoring to jump on the next awesome social media “Thing” and in such a hurry that we don’t bother to read these insanely long “terms of service,” which put the user at fault for using a tool they provide.
It’s messed up because it’s hard to blame someone who developed a tool to be used legally (I seriously doubt Pinterest had malicious image stealing in mind when they developed their site) but could the warnings about breaking the law be less burred in legal jargon?
Something has gotta change.
After wasting 3 months doing nothing but sending Pinterest take down notices, and pinners ignoring the nopin metatag, I am backed into a corner and I have no choice but to launch lawsuits against several pinners my attorneys were able to track down.
I know these ladies are going to be stunned, thinking it was a compliment (which it is) and that they were giving me invaluable publicity (that, they’re not).
I don’t get all the hype that Pinterest is great publicity and brings so much traffic because I hardly saw any. Once someone has seen my full-size image on Pinterest, why should they come to my website to see it again?
So much of my content was infringed upon that my traffic was down 8-10%. I don’t know if it’s Pinterest’s fault, or other factors, but after my material was mostly removed, that traffic came back.
I wish Pinterest was never invented. Pinterest makes me very sad. I’m really not into suing people, but I don’t know how else to stop it and spending all my time filling Pinterest’s online copyright forms is no longer a viable option. Too many pinners, there’s just one little old me.
After I read the post on Roni Loren’s blog (and some of the comments), it occurred to me that people really don’t get the whole image copyright issue (it confuses me too). I see people saying that if they repin a photo while citing the source it’s not the same as pirating. That is flawed logic (now that I take the time to think about it). Just because you say where you stole something from, doesn’t mean it’s not stealing.
I just deleted all my boards and my Pinterest account because I don’t have the time to do Pinterest the right way. I’m bummed, but I think it’s the right thing to do.
I suppose the good news is that I have one less social media thing to keep up with.
Thanks for stopping by Fender.
I wrote a blog about this today, and found out almost immediately by a commenter that people are being sued for their pins on Pinterest. I think I’m going to delete my boards and start over, with only pins that I know are safe to use.
Hi Rebecca,
It must be on everyone’s mind. I think everyone and their mother read Roni’s post. After reading your post about it I decided I didn’t have time to do all the work to save my account. I deleted my Pinterest profile.
It was fun while it lasted. Maybe I will have more time to write now.
So right before Roni’s post came out, I was all…to Pinterest or not to Pinterest. I guess I’m not going to Pinterest. Probably better for me anyway. I’m too easily distracted and have too much to finish on the current WIPs.
I feel lucky, I’d only been on Pinterest a little while before I realized there could be copyright issues. There are people who have been doing this forever and have a lot of work put into their pretty boards. I don’t envy them. Deleting those boards with all the pretty pins on them is hard.
I think I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum. I have discovered so many new blogs to follow and return to through Pinterest. I find it an easy way to find people who blog about things I’m interested in.
I pinned something a friend of mine recently blogged and it increased traffic to her post.
That said, I’m on my way over to read Roni’s blog post. I don’t want to steal from people and I certainly don’t want to cause problems for other bloggers by pinning their images.