Update On .htaccess

Back in June 2012, I wrote: Educate Pinners With .htaccess with instructions on how to allow pinning... except not of the image that pinners intend to pin, but a substituted image with a message about copyright.

I noticed that this strategy has recently stopped working because Pinterest no longer identifies itself as "Pinterest" in web logs when one of their relentless crowscrapers infringes on your copyright. Now Pinterest is using the longer form: +http://pinterest.com

If you want to continue substituting the pinned images with a copyright warning, you must update your .htaccess file with the following lines:

RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Pinterest [NC]
RewriteRule .*\.(jpe?g|gif|bmp|png)$ http://media-cache-ec0\.pinterest\.com/upload/44965696249836704_DMXjrNee_f\.jpg [R]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} \+http://pinterest\.com/ [NC]
RewriteRule .*\.(jpe?g|gif|bmp|png)$ http://media-cache-ec0\.pinterest\.com/upload/44965696249836704_DMXjrNee_f\.jpg [R]

The command for the old identifier "Pinterest" remains in case they mysteriously revert to it. This is the copyright warning that is being substituted:

Pinterest Is The Most Despicable Website On The Internet

Remember how you used to be able to check for copyright infringement with this URL?

http://pinterest.com/source/mywebsite.com

Not anymore. Now you have to join Pinterest and log into it. If you don't, you get this prompt:


That's right; Pinterest won't even let you check for copyright infringement on your own website without you SIGNING UP and AGREEING TO THEIR TERMS OF SERVICE. Isn't that outrageous? Their gall is just obscene. Once you're logged in, and filing your DMCA take-down notice, these unscrupulous fiends know who you are and have proof that you agreed to their TOS. Talk about covering their filthy keisters against the arm of justice.

All these people out there, thinking they're collecting pretty pictures, they have no idea what a disgusting organization their "hobby" is enriching, at whose expense, and the pain they are inflicting on artists.

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If that's not annoying enough, the DMCA form has been plagued with bugs for months that Pinterest sure is in no hurry to fix, trying to make it as difficult as possible for the victims of their relentless crowdscraping.

We have to deal with:

• Explanations for "strike" and "remove all" that pop up all over the area where you are trying to click on the radio buttons.
• These pop up explanations cover up the fact that the radio buttons for the first pin and those for the second pin TOGGLE AGAINST EACH OTHER in a way that sabotages ALL multiple-complaint submissions, and result in a rejection with the message "this field is required" and a blanking out of many the field below that need to be re-entered (country, tick-boxes, signature). They are forcing you to do everything TWICE. For months.
• These bugs have been there so long that Pinterest MUST be doing this on purpose to harass copyright holders, or it's their absolute lowest priority. They want us to give up.

Every artist's Pinterest nightmare

Customize The No-Pin Meta-tag

Did you know that you can now display your own custom message when someone attempts to pin from your website?

<meta name = "pinterest" content = "nopin" description = "Buzz off my images, PIN HAG!" />

More Reading Material

The Perils Of Pinterest - great article and comments.

Pinteres Is Not A Source - the only problem is that attribution does not mitigate copyright infringement...

Bing Adds Pinterest Collections To Image Search - More bad news.

Pinterest and My Ethics - How I Changed My Mind = Grrrrrr:

I’m going to be sharing anything that I want on my Pinterest. If someone out there decides to be a jerk about what I share, then I will happily remove any offending thing. I will also write a bubble about them and share with the world how they are part of the SUCK. I’m using my own moral compass for Pinterest, or as Peloquin said on “Nightbreed” said “F*** the Law”. I want to share the awesome, not steal anything. Don’t blame me for Pinterest’s screwed up policies and code.

5 Reasons Why Starbucks’ Pinterest Strategy is Not A Big Hit - aka "Starbucks Infringes Copyright On Pinterest And Is A Terrible Example."


Pinterest moves away from images with “Article Pins” - Here we go: after the images, the text. Didn't we see that one coming?

Reading Material

Pinterest Devaluing Artists One Pin At A Time

Stealing Is Not Sharing

Worthwhile Reads

The Pinterest (Er, Tumblr) Problem, Fair Use, and a Suggestion for Change from Joe Ross.

But the problem [...] is that the “Pinterest problem” is absolutely not on a scale never before seen. This is, in fact, how the internet works. The compliance with the DMCA and solid indemnification clauses keep companies out of hot copyright water, but users are infringing at an astounding daily rate.

Pinterest and Copyright Infringements from the Beckwith Mansion & Estate Blog.

[...] when people ask, “Are you on Pinterest?” I tell them I am not and that I don’t believe in supporting copyright infringements.

A Word From Gary Larson

Gary Larson does not want his comics to be redistributed on the internet.

My effort here is to try and speak to the intangible impact, the emotional cost to me, personally, of seeing my work collected, digitized, and offered up in cyberspace beyond my control. [...]

So, in a nutshell (probably an unfortunate choice of words for me), I only ask that this respect be returned, and the way for anyone to do that is to please, please refrain from putting The Far Side out on the Internet. These cartoons are my "children," of sorts, and like a parent, I'm concerned about where they go at night without telling me. And, seeing them at someone's web site is like getting the call at 2:00 a.m. that goes, "Uh, Dad, you're not going to like this much, but guess where I am."[...]

Please send my "kids" home. I'll be eternally grateful.

Why You Should Stop Pinning Other People's Images To Pinterest

Pinners are killing the homegrown internet content machine.
Tara Bradford's How image-sharing sites are undermining photography is an absolute must-read for both pinners and content providers.

I say this because Tara provides a comprehensive list of all the rogue image scrapers and crowdscrapers that she must deal with on a daily basis. To pinners, this should vividly illustrate the negative impact that their hobby has on the very people they purport to celebrate. To content creators, the list is a reminder of all the websites that need monitoring.

I must quote Tara here, because I swear my eyes became moist reading this:

After blogging for 7 1/2 years and writing 2,427 posts, I have deleted nearly 1000 posts - and may delete more - to avoid having to track those photos all over the Internet. I've deleted category links to posts within my blog, after at least 3 phishing sites copied every post in several categories (a website was suspended, after posting 91 of my articles). I've changed the original url to many blog posts, after finding the same photos stolen over and over again (with 19 different bridal sites as the culprits!). And I've started adding prominent watermarks to every image I post.

This is what pinners and other crowdscrapers are doing to the internet that I know and love. They are eroding it now, and they will eventually destroy it, leaving nothing but corporate content.

This internet I speak of was once a place that rewarded self-publishing. Freed of the need to please an editor, the costs and delays of print media, authors, photographers, teachers, etc. could use the internet to share information, and derive revenue from advertisement, sponsorships, licensing, print-on-demand etc.

Pinterest and other crowdscrapers incite people to strip that content from the people that create it, and surrender it at the feet of corporate entities.

Loss of vital web traffic and exclusivity of distribution removes the incentive to add more content. As Tara and others start to first stem the flow of content production, block access to image search engines, get tangled up in lawyerly pursuits... the homegrown internet content machine will dry up and die.

Stamping Out Pinterest

Great post on the Stamp Out Stamp Theft blog - more artists upset with Pinterest.

I was told once by one person that she would not remove the image until Pinterest told her to. I'm not sure they really care about our complaints. It looks like they have a special form that needs to be filled out by the owners.

Pinterest Police

The Paris Hotel Boutique blog has a pet peeve. The author is annoyed when she receives a negative content or a correction regarding an image that she probably pillaged from another website, photographer, or Google Images. The nerve! Of course, the image illustrating the blog was taken from some other website.

The author's biggest pet peeve is the Pinterest Police. According to this misguided blogger, Pinterest must be actively searching for copyright infringement, and is harassing poor pinners that don't properly credit their sources.

When pinning, please try and find the original source for credit.

Hey, Pinterest doesn't care.

Legally, we're supposed to ask for permission from the photographer.

But clearly no one does - burdening artists and photographers with a never-ending chore of finding their content on Pinterest and writing take-down notices. Please stop pinning without permission especially since you know it's wrong.

News Roundup

Right-clicking Images from Websites, Pinterest and Google is an interesting article from a photographer who doesn't want her images pinned. The discussion below is every interesting, as many commenters pledge to delete their Pinterest accounts - showing the effectiveness of educating the public.

Other people's Photos also features a lively discussion that you may want to join in.

Don’t Steal My Stuff, Dude! has a humorous twist.

Recently, I found a blog that had copied all of my posts and photos word-for-word from my other blog. After hounding them with several emails, they finally responded to me that they would credit me for the content they had borrowed, and we were all happy. While gracious about it, I still got the feeling this other blog owner felt somewhat entitled to my work.

That's why a lot of us prefer the DMCA than arguing with website owners!

How To Unpin On Pinterest

So you want to unpin a picture on Pinterest and you don't know how.

You have come to the right place as we will demonstrate the most effective way to remove the unwanted pins that blight your otherwise gorgeous pinboards.

Your first step is to reach this form by following THIS LINK HERE.

The first box says: "Identify your work on your own website" simply copy and paste the link towards which the image is pointing.  With Firefox, you can right-click on the image, select "Copy Link Location" and paste in the box

In the box that says: "Identify the infringed work on Pinterest" simply copy and paste the URL in the upper right hand of your screen in the web address bar.

 Next, there are two radio buttons.  Select YES for both.

Fill out the name and address fields, click all three boxes and write your name at the bottom.

And you're done!  Pinterest will remove all these unwanted pins for you! It's much easier than doing it yourself!

Happy pinning!