New Civilization News: Copyright and good mentions    
 Copyright and good mentions9 comments
11 Dec 2003 @ 07:25, by Flemming Funch

When I need a picture for one of my blog postings, I normally find something suitable really quickly, simply by searching in Google Images. Lots of great stuff is available.

But then there's the problem of whether I mention where it comes from. Do I give credit to the source of the picture?

It particularly becomes a problem in that some of the very best photography and art will often be found on a website of a professional photographer or artist. And the site will typically have some prominent Copyright statements, and often a whole page where the artist explains that they've put a lot of effort into their work, and they really should be paid for it.

If I get to a site like that, I usually turn around right away and never come back. Not because I wouldn't love to use the pictures. And not because I wouldn't happily mention who created them and where one can find more. But exactly because that typically isn't what is acceptable to that artist. Most likely, if I mentioned them, it would just give them a better way of coming after me and asking that I pay them money or take the picture down. So, instead, I forget about them as quickly as possible.

In my mind it represents an antiquated system of economics and it works against the interests of creative people. The oppressive concept of copyright, I mean. If I gave them a free mention and added exposure, I'd say that would help their business, not hurt it.

So, I usually give a credit only when the creator is both known and apparently not unwilling to share. If it is from some commerical site with no credits, I don't mention anything.

The answer could be that people used licenses from Creative Commons, and, generally, that there was a better understanding of how economics work nowadays. If you're an individual small-scale creative person, your personal economy will be supported by free mentions, and liberal permission to use for people who are never going to pay you anyway. Or, for that matter, if I could buy a picture for a suitably small amount of money, and do so easily, I might go for that. Like $1.

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9 comments

11 Dec 2003 @ 13:26 by hgoodgame : We solve that issue
by putting a little javascript into the page which disables right click for copyrighted material. I agree, it would be so nice to be able to pay a small price for an image from a site we admire and find useful.
Perhaps there's a business opportunity here for someone.:)  

11 Dec 2003 @ 14:11 by bushman : But?
What about those of us that don't have credit cards? We get left out of most anything on the net because of it.  

11 Dec 2003 @ 14:15 by ming : Lack
Or those of us who don't have any money. Whereas I used to consider it completely inconsequential to pay 1, 5 or 20 dollars for something, today I'd have to budget.

Anyway, I think we need a new economic system altogether.  

11 Dec 2003 @ 15:01 by bushman : Hmm.
All I can trade is hard labor, lol. I don't even have a bank account. Hmm, I'll trim your hedge and rake leaves for that cool pic? lol.  

11 Dec 2003 @ 16:04 by ming : Economy
Yeah, that shows the craziness of the system. You can't pay for anything because you only do *real* work. But an options market speculator who does nothing but juggle numbers of things that don't exist would have no such problem.  

11 Dec 2003 @ 18:13 by Jon @209.148.230.127 : Economy
One really does wonder, no ? If "we" were going to design a world economy starting now, from a zero-base, would it look like the one we have now ?

Somehow, I doubt it...I suppose it depends on who are the clients and who are the designers of that "e-con-omy"  

11 Dec 2003 @ 19:36 by swanny : The New Alchemists
THE NEW ALCHEMISTS

David Boyle

The local currency revolution means new kinds of money which are kinder to the planet.

from Resurgence Issue 192



THE WORLD FINANCIAL markets are delicate mechanisms, but they have the destructive power of a meteorite.

As I write, they are staggering around with their heads in their hands — and who knows where they will be by the time this article is read? But it seems a good moment to ask the crucial question about money: where does it come from?


There are many answers of course. Some comes from the government in coins and notes. Most comes from the banks, who conjure it into existence in the form of mortgages and loans. Some comes from us, but set in rigid interest-bearing rules: every time our credit card slices through the till, we cause money to exist.


Credit card companies in the USA now market their products by sending $5,000 cheques through the post by mailshot. If you want the money, you can cash the cheque and the card and statement follow through the post. "Like feeding lettuce to hungry rabbits," according to one American commentator.


No wonder the average American family manages to amass savings of just $2,300 after fifty years work. But who created that $5,000? Us or them?


See full article in.....

[link]in the New Alchemists


Of course, if banks or governments are going to create more money, they need us to believe in it first. Like Tinkerbell, money needs the belief of those who use it to be able to burn bright. The kind of market collapse we have seen in Russia is actually the collapse of belief.

.......  

12 Dec 2003 @ 19:16 by Natalie @82.35.43.26 : copyright etc.
Ming, I have a copyright notice on my site because it largely consists of my graphic work but I've never turned down anyone who wanted to reproduce things from it on their blogs, and I never asked for payment. As long as they give me credit and link back to the source of the image, I'm very happy to have the exposure. Creative Commons licence is a good idea and I think I may join it. The only problem is when a work one's doing is intended to be published as a book eventually; then should it be shown on line first, in bits and pieces? I'm wondering about this at present with a graphic novel.  

12 Dec 2003 @ 19:45 by ming : Publishing
In some fields (technical, open source types of subjects) publishers have started to be open to the material being left open for free access on-line at the same time. But more traditional publishers would probably still be concerned about that, thinking it maybe will take away from their ability to sell a book. But hopefully that is changing.  

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