Site help Copyright! Please Read And Discuss

[Bombardier]

Copyright!

As you are all aware we take copyright issues very seriously. If you are uploading an image to MI.Net you must only do so if..

1. You Own the Copyright (I.E You took the picture or created the artwork)
2. You have obtained it from a source that has declared it public domain or creative commons and you are confident it is so
3. You have permission from the Copyright Owner to use the image
4. You consider the posting of the image or text as fair use (we support that only in the absence of a usage licence or copyright holder identity)

If you have permission it is only fair that you include the copyright owners details such as name and website link in your post.

Copyright laws in relation to the internet are prehistoric and are not up to speed with the way the internet functions however for the time being we are stuck with them and they are law so we should abide by them until legislation sees fit to change.

Given the fact that we are a non commercial website and the images are posted for educational use including for discussion we have, I think a fair argument of "Fair Use". That said if we are requested to remove an image that has been uploaded because the owner of the image has declared a breach of their copyright, we will remove the image and you will be informed.

We constantly monitor images uploaded as best we can and if we have any doubt of the images provenance, again we may delete them.


I have recently discovered that www.militaryphotos.net is shutting down on the 1 May 2015 because of copyright issues, I dont know why that would be the case because laws are there to protect hosting website such as ours.

If you are posting images to the forum section you must still where possible,make it clear in your post the status of the image and give proper credit.

The rule of thumb is "If in doubt, leave it out"

Thanks for all you support and co-operation in this matter

 

[Bombardier]

Although I have only recently posted this information Copyright has always been part of our rules and regulations so members should have already been following these guidelines prior to uploading any images

 

[Bombardier]

I would also like to say that I am sorry about the loss of MP.Net due to these issues and I am sure that you will all welcome any previous members of their site as members here, should they see fit to join us.

I know only too well how much work he had put into running that site

 

[snapper]

Good post about an important issue.
I have seen the website www.militaryphotos.net and have read a few posts over there about the closure of the site, it seems some members are asking where they can find a replacement site for MP.Net. Here would be the obvious choice but it seems they have not discovered us yet?
I'm not a member over on that site so cant spread the word, perhaps you should Bomber

 

[Bombardier]

Thanks snapper yes it is an important issue and will be the deciding factor regarding the success of MI.Net in the future.

I have thought about letting them know on Militaryphotos.net about us but thought better of it, it would be kinda like telling a grieving wife where she kind find a new husband, if you know what I mean.

They had a good community over there and although they would be welcome here I think we should let them find their own way. seems kinda callous to push our site at this time.

They do have a new website that will apparently be more discussion focused and not imagery, which is what a lot of the members there are complaining about.

Well we will see what happens.

 

[Bombardier]

I have read a few posts on MP.Net asking where they could go to when the site close. As they are asking any member wishing ti let them know about us can do so. Many thanks

 

[Bigbird]

Great post thanks Bomber

 

[Hollis]

I have posted links to this site twice. Probably not a issue if one asks a mod there. There is another forum, one of their mods ask and was given permission to post their link. IMHO, this site is much better than the other one.

The new website is more on discussions though photos can be posted, similar to your copyright requirements here.

H.

 

[Bombardier]

Thanks again Hollis.
And I agree this site is better than the other suggested (very biased I know )

Please also read the information here http://www.militaryimages.net/threads/this-weeks-photos-thread-copyright.5613/

Especially the quoted post that reads

The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, passed into law in 1998 as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides safe harbour protection to "online service providers" for "online storage" in section 512(c). Section 512(c) applies to online service providers that store copyright infringing material.

This gives webmasters and site owners some initial protection against copyrighted material being posted on a website that they had no knowledge of.

 

[Bombardier]

This is how I would approach the use of an image that I want to upload for discussion.

Does the image clearly have a copyright notice and if so is a usage licence attached?

Copyright notice only with no usage specified = ask the copyright holder for permission (its a quick email)
Usage permission specified = follow the rules (usually a simple credit is required)

No copyright notice or usage licence attached and no way of finding the owner

Use the image based on your belief that it is "fair use" (if its on here then I accept fair use because we are non commercial and only discussing the image)

This is how I would use a textual article

Simply write a few lines of the text, to add context then link to the full article. If you can find any photos in the galleries insert them (not the image attached to the article unless you are sure it can be used.

 

[Bombardier]

A useful tool to help you find the author of a file can be found here http://www.tineye.com/

TinEye is an image search company. We build innovative and customizable image search solutions using image recognition and computer vision. Based in Toronto, Canada

You can even download an app for your browser, once downloaded and installed you simply right click the image and select Tineye

I find it invaluable and its feckin free

A point t note though, if you get zero results it does not mean the image is not present on the web, just that tineye have not yet spidered a site that may contain it

 

[Bombardier]

To research an image you could also try Google Reverse image search found here
https://images.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl

Just click the camera icon in the search box and follow the instructions.

 

[ENGINEER]

One thing to be aware of is posting material marked Getty Images. They can enforce fees to be paid for use of pictures. In my personal opinion They can also claim copyrights over material they don't actually own and sometimes will challenge fair use. There are reports about entanglements with them if you search on Internet.

 

[Bombardier]

One thing to be aware of is posting material marked Getty Images. They can enforce fees to be paid for use of pictures. In my personal opinion They can also claim copyrights over material they don't actually own and sometimes will challenge fair use. There are reports about entanglements with them if you search on Internet.

Thanks buddy
To avoid this we should stay away from getty images however we do have 'Safe Harbor' so if they find one of their images they first have to request its 'take down' but still they are a big company with lots of cash to fight with and we dont.

Nice one @ENGINEER

Here is a link to a useful website
http://www.copyrightinfringement.org.uk/

 

[Bombardier]

As per previous post

Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, passed into law in 1998 as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides safe harbour protection to "online service providers" for "online storage" in section 512(c). Section 512(c) applies to online service providers that store copyright infringing material.
This gives webmasters and site owners some initial protection against copyrighted material being posted on a website that they had no knowledge of.

I think that companies like 'Getty images' would more likely pursue a copyright claim for a website owner who is using images that they themselves (the website owner) have placed on their website, say in the header image or somewhere like that. Our website allows its users to post images in galleries and threads for discussion & education only and therefore I the admin of the site could not possibly be aware of the source of the image. This is where safe harbor comes into force and any company claiming copyright infringement must issue a 'Take down notice or TDN for short.

The TDN does not mean that a counter claim cannot be made, the TDN will be passed on to the uploader of the image to assess, if the uploader believes the image belongs to them and the company claiming copyright ownership is doing so falsely then they can take the matter up with them personally. Whilst that is happening the image will be removed from view (not deleted).

I still stress the requirement to make some checks about the ownership of copyright before uploading and where possible state the following

Copyright ownership (if its yours)
Usage rights and a link to the licence (like Creative Commons) Here are asome examples of Creative Commons licences that we support https://www.militaryimages.net/help/Creative-Commons-Licences/

If you are sharing an image from Facebook, twitter or elsewhere then pace a link to the page where it was shared from. This is only like sharing an image from one FB page to another. People who upload images to FB etc are expecting them to be shared around the internet. A lot of websites (like ours) provide links for sharing so I deem that to be ok to do so.

I have posted many thoughts on copyright, fair use etc and when time allows I will merge them all into one place for easier reading.

Warning! and I hate the fact I have to say this but I must

I am not a copyright professional or a lawyer, anything I write is produced from my own personal opinion derived from the things I have read on the subject. Do not quote me elsewhere as a reliable source because I may be wrong

 

[Bombardier]

Interesting video

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[Cobra]

not so long ago I watched a video about Copyright Trolls , thats right the web has them too.
Basically they are a fraud and try and bleed money out of web site owners by pretending to be copyright owners or agents of them.

The website in the video above provides legal responses you can send to anybody claiming copyright although I think you have to join them for a fee.
If you were to get a lot of these demands @Bombardier it might be worth looking at copyrightinfringement.org.uk

 

[ENGINEER]

I find the website of Dr Neal Krawitz -The Hacker Factor Blog- to not only be a good site but also his series on Getty to be enlightening and along with the comments, worth a read. https://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/625-Dear-Getty-Images-Legal-Department.html You are sure of some amusement too. His photo analysis tools are great too, but some sites rip details off a photo and you get little benefit from it.

 

[ENGINEER]

As I said before Getty are stealing images they don't own and claiming copyright over them. This link shows as much and also shows other complaints being made over the practice. http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/...ion-letters-over-her-work/?prev_next=next#new If I see a crawler of theirs around my site I shall block it. I use a lot of photos under fair use rules.

 

[Bombardier]

Just read the article in your last link, very interesting. seems like a case of Getty becoming far too big for its boots and 'Power corrupts' etc etc.
When you have the money that Getty has to fight copyright infringement or defend against a claim of the same it would be difficult to perceive that a small owner operated website would even consider bring about an action against them.

Pretty naughty of Getty though claiming ownership of others images, I will dig into this more and see how it pans out.

Thanks again @ENGINEER