I have been looking around and seeing a lot of outright image theft from other Steemit users. What I have witnessed is very sad to see. You see very talent people working to create art and photography and most of them are making little to nothing on their posts.
Then you see someone else steal the images off of their page, credit them (which does not give you the legal right to use someone's images) and create a new post with one or more images from the same or multiple users and then make $100-$500 on that post. They are profiting from other people's hard work and expenses as very often there are hard costs involved in photoshoots, there sure are in mine.
The is not right, not fair, and unethical. The only exception is if the person obtained permission from original content creator. I have studied U.S. copyright law extensively and to the best of my knowledge this is not legal and if the images are registered with the copyright office the violators are subject to up to $150,000 Punitive Damages per image. Posting to make profit is a commercial use.
Now since I am not a Lawyer and if there is some technical loophole I have missed that would allow this unethical behavior, it is still ripping off the Artist/Creator and is Unethical.
I'm asking people to stop upvoting these kinds of "ripoff posts" that they see and instead go to the page of the Artist/Creator and upvote their work.
Doing that is the only thing that will stop this kind of theft of other peoples work for selfish profit. And better yet downvote it.
I'm not a big fan of downvoting people's work. But downvoting image theft is a good use of the downvote button.
The Whales have the power to stop this with downvotes, kill the payouts and the theft will stop.
Now if you're one of the people doing this you need to obtain written permission to use the image, you should also be either paying them a fee or splitting the payout. What ever you negotiate. That is the ethical way to use someone else's work.
But it's not ethical to steal someone's work, post it and profit from it. Just because you see it on the internet does not mean it's public domain or give your the right to use it especially for profit.
Imagine this... You found a model, set up a shoot, paid the model, paid the Make Up artist and then spent several hours shooting, then retouching.
Then you post your work and make a few dollars. Then later you see your work on someone else's post that never asked you for permission and they are making $90 on your work! How would you feel?
This behavior is also a liability for Steemit itself and I foresee lawsuits coming in the future if this is not policed and stopped. All it will take is one high profile photographer that likes to sue people like David LaChapelle seeing his work stolen and profited from and Steemit will get hit with a lawsuit I guarantee it (Then the court will decided after heavy legal fees.) Then you'll see headlines linking Steemit to Image theft. This is not good for Steemit's image.
Post that are willingly violating copyrights of others (Steemit users or not) should be blocked or have the payout removed or better yet have the payouts given to the person who's work was used without their permission. There should also be a way to report copyright violations easily so it shows Steemit is doing all it can to protect people's copyrights.
This is also exactly why so many artist and photographers are starving. Yet the people stealing it produce nothing of value and get paid.
To The Artists: I will be adding this to all of my posts from now on I suggest you add something similar.
"Copyright Notice: All Images on this and any of my post are copyrighted by me Nico Simon Princely and registered with the U.S. Copyright office. All rights reserved. You DO NOT have permission to use or post any of my images without written consent from me. Do to so is copyright infringement and is subject to $150,000 in statutory damages per occurrence under U.S. Copyright Law. You may resteem the post. "
Support The Artists and Content Creators not the thieves and Steemit please step up to the plate and protect the legit content creators not the thieves.
I spent my time and own money to promote this post so that this would be brought to people's attention for the greater good of the Creators/Artists/Photographers on Steemit and to prevent steemit from getting into legal issues down the road.
I ask that all of you you do your part and stop supporting content thieves and support content creators.
Without that Steemit will just turn into a haven for unethical ripoff posters rather than place for Creative People to get the support they need and deserve and a place for people to come view quality original content, because the content creators will leave or quit.
Please Resteem, and help with paid promotion if you can so more people see this.
Thanks,
Nico
Some of my other Recent and Still Active Posts that feature my Digital Photography...
NSPART - Erotic Nude Photoshoot Series featuring "Roxy" Part 3 (NSFW- Erotic Art - Nudity 5 Images )
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/nspart-erotic-nude-photoshoot-series-featuring-roxy-part-3-nsfw-erotic-art-nudity-5-images
NSPART - The Girl, The Gun, The Booze in Grainy Black & White - (Implied Nude - No Full Nudity - 3 Images) Another Steemit First Post!
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/nspart-the-girl-the-gun-the-booze-in-grainy-black-and-white-implied-nude-no-full-nudity-3-images-another-steemit-first-post
NSPART - A One Off Art Piece in Color and Black & White with with the very Beautiful Nikola Weiterova IFBB Bikini Fitness competitor (Images and Video) - ANOTHER STEEM IT FIRST POST!!!!
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/nspart-a-one-off-art-piece-in-color-and-black-and-white-with-with-the-very-beautiful-nikola-weiterova-ifbb-bikini-fitness
NSPART 800 Followers Passed - How following Me Benefits You & Makes You Money - Color and Black & White Images with Lauren (NSFW - Mild Nudity - Part 1) - Another Steemit First!
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/nspart-800-followers-passed-how-following-me-benefits-you-and-color-and-black-and-white-images-with-lauren-nsfw-mild-nudity-part
ANNOUCING WHALESHARES NSFW NUDE/EROTIC ART CONTESTS - Win Whaleshare you can use to get whale votes on your posts! This Week's Theme Black & White Nudes!
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/annoucing-whaleshares-nsfw-nude-erotic-art-contests-win-whaleshare-you-can-use-to-get-whale-votes-on-your-posts-this-week-s