A week or two ago I had a concern with the Weekend Post ‘stealing’ one of the images on MyPE and in a fit of pique posted this article: Weekend Post Taking MyPE for a Ride.
Our esteemed weekly newspaper then offered me their standard fee for a contributor (at R150.00 I didn’t deem it enough for me to retire on, I might add!), and then hinted broadly that I might consider removing the article. I may be a web site hooker but, sorry for you WP, R150.00 is a bit low for such an act of buggery!
All I really wanted was a private little note saying; “Gosh Alan we didn’t realise that we were using your image without permission.” Followed by a little white lie telling me that the miscreant who had ‘stolen’ my image had been redeployed to some senior editor’s position in the ANC Youth League.
Anyway, my last reply to the Weekend Post suggesting that they post a short apology has been met with HUGE BLOODY SILENCE. Note to the WP Editor; “I have had many Bull Terriers as pets – they are noted for their tenacity and lock jaws once they get hold of a subject. Boring I know but effective as the blood seeps slowly from their victims!”
But, as per usual, I digress somewhat………..
This morning I received a request from Lynne Lund over in Australia (See the comments in this article: Stunning Groendal) seeking to use an image published on MyPE of the Missionvale Tree as a REFERENCE for a painted art work that she wants to sell in aid of Sister Ethel’s Missionvale Care Centre.
For the benefit of the Weekend Post let us unpack that again – Lynne DOESN’T want to use the image but ONLY wants to use it as a REFERENCE for an art work that she wants to DONATE to a good cause. Not in pursuit of money but in pursuit of assisting people less fortunate than us AND Lynne is in Australia thousands of kilometres away from Port Elizabeth.
What a Mensch Lynne is in comparison to our LOCAL paper that used one of MyPE‘s images in the pursuit of profit.
Update: If the Weekend post had read this – MyPE Text and Images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License – they would have saved themselves a heap of trouble.
Alan Straton
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An emailed comment on the above:
Alan, your response is PRICELESS!!!
I believe very strongly in copyright – it is a right and remains with the photographer/artist etc. It would be so wonderful if the paper comes to the party and donates!
Couldn’t agree more Alan – but you are really stretching the term “newspaper” or “journalist” when referenced to our local rag.
Yep, fair’s fair. Even when quoting some of your material on other sites I will always quote MyPE as the source (with a hyper link) and a little thank you to Alan!
Thanks Moggie – your fairness has not gone unnoticed and is much appreciated.
That said – I do know that I make mistakes and really do appreciate it if someone points it out – often it is what you do to fix things that counts …….
A little tightly wound, Alan?
naaah – the only time I have fun is whilst correcting an injustice – mine or someone else’s.
It seems that this using of other peoples images is a widespread problem – a word to the wise – Google Images is not the provider or copyright holder of any images – if you are not sure of whether you can use the image or not, then rather do the right thing and provide a link back. Your good neighbourlieness will probably result in greater exposure for your web site.