Laughing Squid - Latest Comments in ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Rudy Torres — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:44:39 -0000

"Fuck apologies! This is America; there is only one way you say thank you or I'm sorry and that's by cutting a check." - RudyTorresRocks.com

That's also the reason I don't use flickr, don't get me wrong its great to share pics with your friends but not for pros that expect to be paid. If your a pro you're better off staying off them sites. I don't care about credit or publicity, just pay me.

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Addictive Games — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:51:00 -0000

I hate this sort of stuff. I don't know how I would feel about something like this. On one hand they are using your stuff and getting it out there, but on the other hand it's the principal of asking for the permission and discussing of it's use.

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Photo Tricks — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:51:53 -0000

You can thank Google and Yahoo image search for that, no copyright info gets displayed so if I download an image from a search engine, I may never know.

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

greg — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:08:11 -0000

I don't know enough about cc or non music issues. However, if it was music and they used it in parody that would be o.k. Right? Perhaps part of fair use â€“ i don't know. Three other things â€“ 1st, you have a very hardy smile (good bone structure) 2nd I am getting some sick pleasure from using your comments feature as a forum and lastly, it appears that you did not take the picture â€“ why did they apologize to you if Scott took the picture

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

seekground — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:42:51 -0000

Do you seek releases from the people you photograph before you publish the image?

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Scott — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:13:00 -0000

An apology is more than others would give. I think they did well by manning up to it instead of making excuses.

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Vu Bui — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:15:57 -0000

I have to agree with JT, it's so easy to go ahead and use whatever you want and then just apologize and remove it when you get caught... but without some sort of penalty what is their motivation to do things correctly the next time?

What would the world be like if the penalty for theft was just to return the stolen items when and if you're caught?

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

JT — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:53:27 -0000

ZingFu should at least try to make up for their mistake, by paying you or making a donation to cc, rather than just apologize.

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Scary Pictures — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:09:47 -0000

Could you have the makings of a lawsuit with this infringement? Might be worthwhile taking a legal avenue with this. You'd be protecting yourself and setting prescedents for others that follow.

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Peter — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:26:50 -0000

startups will behave like startups. that said, the main problem, i'm guessing, is edumacation. licenses and licensing are extraordinarily complex, so the solution for most people is to just ignore any/all copyright.if the new generation grows up having some clue as to what CC is all about, maybe an attribution won't be far away.

http://www.attributor.com/

there are lots of other technological things that can and will happen - hopefully companies like attributor can help. (no affiliation)

maybe microformats or something like it can help - a little 'attribution' descriptor element embedded in the image itself would be cool, too - like modifying the png header format or something geeky like that.

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Kevin Burton — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:07:05 -0000

Just send them an invoice for $1k and spend it on beer..... :)

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Christian — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:54:03 -0000

Just send them an invoice.

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Bob Ralian — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:50:44 -0000

You're right and we apologize. This was a mistake fueled by ignorance. While ZingFu is a parody site, that's no excuse for neglecting the simple responsibilities of using Creative Commons content. Photographers, like yourself, with the generosity to use this license should be treated with greater respect. As you've noted, we have taken down the photo. We apologize to you and the Creative Commons community.

Sincerely,

Bob Ralian
ZingFu Co-Founder
bobzingfu.com

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Joe Reifer — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:19:57 -0000

Let's say ZingFu continued to use the image. You could sue them for what this particular image usage is worth. Of course the amount might be less than 1 hour of a lawyer's time. And the CC license has not been tested in U.S. court.

If you registered the image with the U.S. Copyright office, you could sue for the usage cost plus damages. Copyright registration provides you with a proven stick to fight image theft. Worth considering for anyone who is tired of seeing their images ripped off.

More info on how this works here:
http://www.joereifer.com/wo...

Best,

Joe

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

lane hartwell — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:45:35 -0000

Just the other day, I got into a conversation with two other photographers about watermarking images. I haven't been doing that, but think I might start. I've had my photos stolen and used on websites. People who I've shot at events take my photos and use them on their profiles and sites with no consideration for the work I put into it. I've had people become hostile with me when i explain that they need to ask to use my images, and possibly pay to use them. I don't think most people have any clue of the time, effort and money a photographer puts into their work. It's digital, so it must be free, right?

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Alicia Renee — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:32:31 -0000

It's just SO flipping easy to fix it's shameful.

The "careless" actions by individuals/web/companies/publications violating CC licenses makes me steaming mad.
I wrote ZingFu a complaint, and appreciate your twittering/posting about when your CC license hasn't been honored. The more vocal CC-advocates & others voice their complaints--even when the work @ stake isn't theirs--*hopefully* the less the problem will arise.

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

C.C. Chapman — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:31:53 -0000

This just plain sucks! You put the photos out there with CLEAR licenses on them and yet here is a company ignoring it.

I've had this happen a couple of times, but never by a commercial company. I really hope they admit their mistake and do right by you.

Re: ZingFu Ignores Creative Commons Licences on Photos

Jessie — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:22:34 -0000

Looks like it's been removed.