A QUESTION OF INTEGRITY

Doing the right thing. It is not always easy to do the right thing. What if no one will ever find out or you will never get caught? Can you still do it? What if everyone is doing it? Is it still okay? What if you really, really, really want to post some great photos of beautiful people?

Do you know if Rita Hayworth is searched on Google Image, 164,000 photos will show up. Not all of the photos are of Rita. In fact, I saw one of Elizabeth Taylor and one of an older Lauren Bacall. There are a lot of duplicate photos of Rita Hayworth that have been pulled from all over the Web. There are some really great pictures out there. 

Just because everyone else is posting possibly copyrighted photos of the fifties glamour stars, can I post them as well? How do you know whether it was copyrighted or not? You know, your works do not have to be labeled with a copyright symbol to still be copyrighted. How do I even find who did copyright the photo? I can apply to the Copyright Office for a record search of copyrighted images at a cost of $165.00 an hour....minimum 2 hours. What do you do...send them a copy of the photo? Show them where it is on the Web? Do you know how much attorneys charge to send a Cease and Desist letter if a photographer or photographer's family want you to take a picture off your site? How would anyone even find a picture on my little ol' blog? Reckon they embed something on it to trace it?

So........I am thinking if I do a piece on the glamour and style of the Golden Age of Hollywood, you will just have to imagine Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, and Grace Kelly.


This is a free picture I got off Oscar.com Website of Vivien Leigh accepting her Best Actress Award for A Streetcar Named Desire. She is quite stylish is this picture but not very glamorous.

Comments

  1. It's all pretty confusing - I try to give credit if I know where a photo has come from, but it is hard to know how a 100 year old post card, for example, can have a copyright.

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  2. I struggle with the same issues. I want to give credit, and I do if I can. Sometimes, I'm probably unknowingly linking back to a person who isn't the owner of the photo, which ultimately isn't right, either.

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  3. This just struck me funny... when I looked at what I posted, I realized that although even close friends and family think my profile picture is me, it's not. It's Ava Gardner from the 50s, and I'm not so sure the copyright police would believe the "but it looks like me!" excuse. Especially if they saw me looking like I usually do, which is decidedly un-glamorous.

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  4. Oh Maria!!! That is so funny 'cause I want to post Rita hayworth as me.... I don't look like her but Mama did

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  5. To me this whole (copyright) is getting scary.I use photo's from free bing.com and even so some are not free.

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  6. I have no idea how to determine which pictures I can take. I often use old masters on my poetry blog. With other pictures I give credit but sometimes you can't. If in doubt, don't, I suppose, but that doesn't always work.

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  7. I think the thing to do in that case is to use Pinterest which links back to the original source of the photo. Having owned a photography business I am very aware of copyright law. I use only my photos 99% of the time, and if I borrow them, I link back to the source. Especially when I am featuring a blog, I have to use some of their photos. So it is a touchy subject, but if someone links back to my blog, I am very glad for them to use any of my photos.

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  8. I actually found some of my photos on another blog recently. The blogger I think didn't realize she should ask for permission or give credit.

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  9. My momma always said, give credit where credit is due. If I use a photo that is not my own I always try to link back to where I got it.
    I loved Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind.

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  10. This is a shaky time in knowing for sure what to do about "borrowed pictures"...if one can give credit to the photographer, of course one should. But what if we don't know who to give credit to? Like you say, when was something placed in public domain, anyway? There isn't an announcement!

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