Misuse of My Photos in PlaniTulsa Presentations

[dsjeffries]

I've refrained from posting this until now, but my aggravation has gotten the better of me.

Several weeks ago, when I went to the PlaniTulsa website to register for last night's workshop, I discovered that one of my photos had been used without permission.  It's a photo of St John Medical Center, and is on the Register page.

I used the 'contact us' button and sent the URL to my photo.  I received an apology and an assurance that my name would be listed below the photo.  That did happen.

Well, at the workshop tonight, I noticed that another photo looked a little too familiar, so I looked through the presentations online and discovered that at least four other of my photos had been taken, cropped to fit their uses, and used without my permission or notification.

I could have (and did) excuse the first photo as a simple mistake, but this is ridiculous.

I would have gladly agreed to their use if I had been approached about it... but that never happened.

The following photos are mine and have been used without permission in presentations:

In PLANiTULSA: Tulsa Comprehensive Plan Update July 14, 2008:

(Links to the URL from which these photos were taken are included to the right of the photo description)

Slide 31/122. Utica Place. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dscott28604/1079916107/in/photostream/

Slide 29/122. Greenwood. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dscott28604/723614821/
Slide 65/122. Downtown Tulsa from Javine Hill in Skiatook. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dscott28604/1711409540/

Master Slide (appears on ALL slides). Arkansas River aerial. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dscott28604/405460230/in/set-72157600948877994/

The Greenwood shot has also been used on the June 16 Presentations, "Tulsa Comprehensive Plan Update" (Slide 21) and "Implementing the Community's Vision" (slide 34).

It would seem to me that a City trying to build a coalition and a spirit of collaboration among its citizens in order to create a vision for the City would try to establish a trust that it's not going to arbitrarily steal its own citizens' intellectual property.

I'm all for PlaniTulsa and had a wonderful time at the workshop, but my enthusiasm is definitely diminished if this is how things are going to be done concerning something as simple as asking for permission to use someone's photographs.

It's unacceptable.

//end rant

[sgrizzle]

I assume they will read this and correct the issue.

[TheArtist]

I feel slighted, nobody stole any of mine. [V]  Actually have been meaning to put up a post on my flickr page to say that anyone who wants to use a pic or even take them to print and sell can do so. At first I had started posting pics with watermarks so people wouldnt do so. But then after I did the Blue Dome festival one year and had some of my photographs out there for sale... well I sold most of what I had brought but the problem was that it was so much work getting the things printed, figuring out what size each should be printed in, then matting and framing them, then hauling them out there, setting up, sitting there all day watching them, etc. I decided that it wasnt worth it lol. So I figure if anyone has the gumption to go to all that work or even figure out a way to sell them online,,, have at it, would be glad to help out. Taking pics is the easy part, the work comes in selling them lol. Plus to me its also about promoting Tulsa. If my photos put Tulsa in a good light, and someone else gets them out there in the public eye, that can only be good for Tulsa. And if someone else makes a buck for their effort in doing so. Bravo, more power to them.  

Btw, dsjeffries... what is the intent of your photos? Are you taking them to make money from, to sell? Or do you just want the recognition?

I noticed Bates doesnt even allow you to save any of his photos on flickr. I suppose he must want to sell them. Either that or he thinks they are veeeeeeery special and shouldnt be for common use lol.[8D] There has been many a time when I have seen a nice photo that he has taken and would have liked to have shared it with people on other forums to show off Tulsa. But its usually as I am looking through lots of pics for something and dont want to take the time to go through the time and hassle of asking for permission for every single decent photo someone has. So I just bypass them and use other peoples photos. Shame though, he does get some good shots. When I do use someone elses photos in that way, I always put the persons name and that it was found on flickr. Most other forums and websites have a policy that you must do that anyway. Likewise, the PlaniTulsa people should have at least put "by dsjeffries/flickr" on the pics they used. Dont think they realize how small a town Tulsa is and that it would be noticed if someone used someone elses photos lol.[]

[Renaissance]

Watermark them.  Any photo app will let you do this.

[Gaspar]

If you post on a photoshare site and do not include a copyright statement, your photos are free game.

You have some very nice images, and it is common courtesy for people using scalped images to at least post a "by line" but I looked at your flickr site and I don't see a copyright statement, signature on your images, or any watermarks.

Google has already indexed your images and they have been searched and downloaded by hundreds of people.  

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by Gaspar

If you post on a photoshare site and do not include a copyright statement, your photos are free game.

You have some very nice images, and it is common courtesy for people using scalped images to at least post a "by line" but I looked at your flickr site and I don't see a copyright statement, signature on your images, or any watermarks.

Google has already indexed your images and they have been searched and downloaded by hundreds of people.  

He does use Flickr's Creative Commons system, which lets users know in what way the photos can be used.

His are set up as Attribution No-Derivative Works, which essentially means you are free to use them provided that you don't modify the work (which they did) and that you attribute the author of the work (which they initially didn't).

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/deed.en

So in a way, he's partially saying they needed to ask him permission.  That would be true since they modified the work.  If they had used it not modified and attributed the work to him, they would NOT have needed to contact him because they would have held true to the spirit of the CC license the photo was under.

If you want people to ask your permission to use the photos, you need to change your CC license to reflect it.

[sgrizzle]

I think tha main thing is credit which they gave once when asked, but still kept doing.

[PonderInc]

In all fairness, ds, your photos do say "creative commons," not "all rights reserved."  

I've definitely used other people's photos on flickr.  If they say "all rights reserved" I contact the photographer to get permission.  If they have a creative commons license, I assume they're ok with sharing as long as it's not for my commercial gain.  Since I'm always using the pictures for non-profit projects, everyone's always said yes....even the professional photographers.

Your photos are amazing.  Consider it a compliment that you have created some of the most beautiful photos --professional or amateur-- of Tulsa.  Your pictures put the Chamber and the CVB to shame, when it comes to showcasing Tulsa's treasures...and sharing them with the world.

[dsjeffries]

Mine are Creative Commons.  But not all Creative Commons licenses are the same.  Mine says that attribution to the photographer must be made.

I'm glad they liked mine well enough to choose them, but it's just common courtesy to ask beforehand or put my name below them.

I don't want money from my photographs, just an attribution.  Since they actually did ask permission of other Tulsa photographers and added an attribution to their photos, they obviously knew what to do.

quote:Your photos are amazing. Consider it a compliment that you have created some of the most beautiful photos --professional or amateur-- of Tulsa. Your pictures put the Chamber and the CVB to shame, when it comes to showcasing Tulsa's treasures...and sharing them with the world.

Thank you, Ponder.

[rwarn17588]

I have to admit that Creative Commons is confusing at times, which I suspect is what happened here.

They probably had some flunkie throwing together the presentation, saw the "Creative Commons" tag on it and said, "Cool! I can just grab these!" I suspect he/she didn't know there are at least three Creative Commons "divisions," so to speak.

For the sake of simplicity, I wish CC had it as all or none. But it's not, so ...

[Conan71]

I think they were doing Google grabs of photos for the slide show.  Did anyone else notice Fregonese kind of chuckled when they showed the "yuppie" with the brick phone?  He said that's all they could find when they searched "yuppie".  

[dsjeffries]

Issue resolved.  They've apologized profusely and are crediting the photos as I type this.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by rwarn17588

I have to admit that Creative Commons is confusing at times, which I suspect is what happened here.

They probably had some flunkie throwing together the presentation, saw the "Creative Commons" tag on it and said, "Cool! I can just grab these!" I suspect he/she didn't know there are at least three Creative Commons "divisions," so to speak.

For the sake of simplicity, I wish CC had it as all or none. But it's not, so ...

I don't think it's confusing at all.

What happens though is you set a default on Flickr and can get hammered by it.

I don't mind people using my stuff as long as they link back and attribute it and as long as they don't modify it.

[MDepr2007]

It's not like this is there first time to run this program. You can bet it ain't the first time they've been contacted about a photo.
Keeps my beleif that they have our best interest in mind and not their own.[B)]

[tim huntzinger]

quote:Originally posted by MDepr2007

It's not like this is there first time to run this program. You can bet it ain't the first time they've been contacted about a photo.
Keeps my beleif that they have our best interest in mind and not their own.[B)]

BS.  That was sheer laziness.  I liked the (sub)Urban Tulsa sidebar introducing this circle jerk, in which the writer complained that despite numerous attempts to get in touch with the jerkmaster had no luck.  I have had numerous photos used in advertising and in each case I received a heads-up from the entity.  DS sez no more problem, so no big deal.  It just sez a lot about the whole shooting match, IMO.