A Few Thoughts on Intellectual Theft

A friend of mine caught this photo up the other day checking out rollernews.com and I raised a brow.  I shot the photo of my friend Abel and posted it as my photo journal for ONE earlier this year and have seen it used once before in an 'unauthorized' way sometime before summer.  Someone was using it on his Facebook, without crediting me and trying to pass it off as a photo of himself.  We had a laugh at that, and added him on facebook, just to see how long it would take him to notice our actual identities.  I believe he apologized, that and deleted us. hah.

I have mixed feelings about the matter of 'intellectual theft'.  Sure, watermarking photos prevents such acts.  But I always felt it detracted from a photo.  You shoot a spectacular photo, work on it in post, grin at how it looks — then slap on a watermark that obscures all the hard work you've put in.  But what choice does a photographer have right?  It's a preventative measure to keep others from taking your work, profiting from it, claiming it as their own, etc. 

In a perfect world, we wouldn't worry about such things, but when newspapers and big blogs take photos without crediting the photographer and definitely know better, what hope does one stand with the everyday Joe?  The internet is for better or worse, the wild west, where everything goes.  And in many ways, is still in an infantile stage because of that openness.  There are regulations trying to be passed (SOPA I believe?) trying to create legislation but that takes things too far and benefits too few.  

We're basically on the honor system.  Sure, someone uses your image and you can contact the domain provider about the violation.  Or track down the offender and sue.  I'd advocate that if they're making good money off your hard work.  In most cases it's harmless.  It's someone trying to look better to their social group or to the online community at large.  We all want to feel better about ourselves, some willing to do it at higher costs. It's the same white lie we tell when someone from our past asks us, "So what's new?" and our immediate response is to cut out the expletives, then embellish kernels of truth into full course meals.  

So back to the photo.  I'm irritated at its use, but it's online already.  Heck, rollernews didn't ask for photo credit, just credit for the designs placed on it.  But no one made money off it, no one is famous, except for Abel. ha.  What's funnier is Loco skates is a British skate shop.  Abel is English, emigrated here 6-7 years ago.  So how is he connected to that shop having lived in Los Angeles? Exactly.  You do the math.  It's the thought that counts though?  At the end of the day, at least people enjoy Abel's skating enough to steal his likeness.  :)