Posts Tagged: copyright

Flickr and the abuse of the Creative Commons

Posted by & filed under art + photography, ideas + opinions.

With the following Tweet today, Jeffrey Zeldman started a very good twitter conversation about Flickr, commericial/retail photo usage, and copyright/licensing/creative commons:

Andy Budd then linked to Zeldman’s blog post, What’s Wrong With This Picture? Flickr is about to sell off your Creative Commons photos, and started another good conversation on the topic:

Jen Simmons further drills into the debate with two succinct tweets and a blog post:

Jen Simmons’ blog post on I Don’t Want “Creative Commons BY” To Mean You Can Rip Me Off

And then Ms. Simmon’s linked to this Wall Street Journal article: Fight Over Yahoo’s Use of Flickr Photos

The quote that sums up Flickr in this situation and my own opinion* comes from Zeldman’s blog post:

I’ve had a Flickr Pro account for about ten years. I love Flickr. Sometimes, for years, it has been like loving a friend who is in a coma. Now it’s like helplessly watching a cocaine-addicted friend snort up their kid’s college fund.

Come on, Yahoo.

* As for the larger scope of my own opinion on Flickr and other photo sharing sites is a blog post in the making, as I am still collecting some comparison data.

** Please note that I am pro-Creative Commons, but chose a few years go – due to abuse by others – to switch from a CC-NC license on my Flickr images and my blog images/posts to a Copyright – All Rights Reserved.

Nokia viNe Has Been Released

Posted by & filed under moleskine to mobile.

It is official, Nokia viNe has been released into the wild and is now available for download. This version of Nokia viNe is a mobile geo-path-tracking / photo / video location based mobile app that allows one to create “vines” or “journeys” on one’s phone and then upload it to the nokia server to be displayed on the web or via a widget.
Nokia viNe version 1.02 released by Nokia today is for the following Nokia mobiles: the E71, N78 & N79, N82 & N85, and the N95 8GB & N96. I have tried it with my Nokia N95-1 and it won’t login to the server and start working, sad this.
I promise to write a new Nokia viNe How To tomorrow that will reflect the changes in the new version that has been released to all. Not only are there some nice improvements and changes to the mobile app since I wrote my tutorial (faster uploads!), but the Nokia viNe web interface has greatly improved.
There are three features I would love to see in the next iteration of the Nokia vine mobile app and web interface:
1) Multiple logins on the mobile app. I currently have two logins and would like to toggle between accounts as to what I upload where.
2) Be able to have finer control of what is public and what is private, not only on Nokia viNe, but also on Sports Tracker and Share on Ovi. I like Flickr & Vox’s approach of up to 4 plus levels of privacy to public with: private (only you), Friends & Family, Contacts, and Everyone. At this point, there is no way I can control this from the Nokia viNe mobile app, nor from the web interface. Given that Nokia viNe is a location based service this is extra important for trust and safety.
3) Be able to determine in my account settings if I want my photos or video to be able to be downloaded once they are up on the Nokia viNe site. Right now, I have no control, which as a beta tester over the last 2+ months didn’t bother me, but over time it will. Flickr allows me to set who I want to be able to download my photos (none, family, friends, friends & family, contacts, and everyone). This is important for trust and copyright.
Overall, I would like to say Bravo! to the folks who have been working hard to make both the Nokia viNe mobile app and the web interface.
My other posts on Nokia viNe:
The Nokia viNe Promo Video is Cute & Funny!
Nokia viNe How To Tutorial (The Alpha Version)
Nokia Nseries Widget or Why Nokia Really Needs a Good Internal Communication System
Batteries for Ricky
Nokia’s (life) viNe

rw : (re)create

Posted by & filed under ideas + opinions.

Mie at Kokochi linked to this TED talk by Larry Lessig as the best so far of the TED talk videos that she and Dav have watched. I have watched a few of the Ted talk videos and agree with Mie and Dav on the above Larry Lessig talk.
I saw Lessig speak on Copyright and CreativeCommons at SXSWi 2003. He is amazing in person, on topic, on track, personable, convincing and knows how to pack a punch. Per his style, Larry gives great examples in the above video, stays on topic, and really convinces one that read/write or (re)creativity is the way to go. I agree. To an extent.
I returned home from SXSWi 2003 all fired up about the brave new liberal world of creative commons and set most of my websites to a “Share-Alike” Creative Commons “copyright”. All was well until this last year when I have noticed a number of for-profit folks violating this charter with my photos and text, ie using it for their website that they are making a profit from (either it is a business where the photos are a part of a sold product or a website with a lot of ads) and not asking permission for the use of the photos or text.
I don’t mind if folks remix/reuse small bits of photos or text if it is for fun/art and they give attribution, or for fair use, but the wholesale lifting of photos and blog posts with no links back has forced me to drop the Creative Commons attribution on this site and my Flickr page and revert back to an “All Rights Reserved” copyright. I don’t like it, but after consulting the two lawyers and one US Patent Agent in my life, it is the only way under the current law that I protect my claim.
I would love Lessig’s ideas on the creative commons to come into widespread use, but it means that all of us have to agree to respect the Creative Commons and unfortunately there are many who willfully abuse it or are ignorant to the contract and under current US and EU law the only way to really protect it is to have a copyright.
In the beginning of this video, Lessig talks about his attempts to change ideas and laws at the governmental and legislative level but that he is no longer doing so as it is un-effective. For Creative Commons to be more than a lovely idea-set for the liberals and creative-minded amongst us, we do need governmental and legislative back up so that over time we can protect our art from the occasional or rare case of abuse.
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Update: Sun. 12.16.07 – Tara Hunt of ::HorsePigCow:: more accurately gets at the essence of what I was trying to say in her blog post the “Tragedy of the Commons“.