A mere 3 lines of code on your website will send a clear message.
The method described in Educate Pinners with .htaccess gives results like the one your see illustrated above in the screenshot. Pinners pin the image of their choice, but only if they look back at their pinboard will they notice the copyright-warning image that has been automatically substituted. If they notice the message, typically, they will erase it themselves - saving YOU the trouble of DMCA notices, and controlling the message that pinners receive when they infringe on your copyright.
All of this magic is accomplished with just 3 lines of code in your website's .htaccess file.
That was the good news. Now, for the bad news.
A surprisingly large contingent of pinners is so stubbornly imbued with its self-given right to grab an artist's content in order to gain some measure of approval from total strangers on the internet ("followers") that after Pinterest itself has blocked them from pinning content from one's domain and receiving a pop up message that pinning isn't allowed, they press on and pin anyway, in which case they end up pinning a substituted copyright-warning image instead of the image they wished to pin.
Now, you'd think that after receiving two manners of copyright warnings, the pinner would pause, and infringe copyrights on another hapless website that isn't yours. If you were to think this, you'd be very wrong.
For after these two copyright warnings, a shocking number of pinners simply double-back with their browser back-button to the image search engine result page where they originally saw your image, and pin from there.
Because you put it on the internet, and no matter how many times they're warned not to take it, they're going to bloody grab that image to impress strangers, and enrich Ben Silbermann.
It's going to be very, very difficult to change things. Pinterest will have to yield. But the copyright-infringement platform is just that, and doesn't show signs of wanting to go legit.
3 comments:
I have a hobby blog that has housewife appeal where I had to go after a boatload of people to have images removed. One of the reasons was - THEY WERE NOT MY IMAGES, but rather stock images I had purchased to illustrate concepts. One was an image where rights were licensed for a fairly hefty price. It was watermarked. I just got so annoyed with the bullsit I have stopped updating the blog. But I may re-engage and may just start using flash SWF files. I can output them easily out of ImageReady in Photoshop, and I did find a Flash embed plugin for Wordpress that does work. Last time I looked, PinStupid does not allow flash pins. So maybe that's my own personal way out on this one.
I do have the meta code on my hobby site, but as you said, they do the end around by going back to the search engine.
As my hobby site is not commercial and I make no money from it, no one else should either. And I really don't care if images get indexed by Google or not.
Copyright infringement does seem to be reduced with these methods, what is surprising is the number of people that choose to sidestep the double warning system.
In the event of litigation, I'll be able to tell a judge that I've done absolutely everything I can to halt infringement, and that whatever infringement continues to occur is very likely to be willful.
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