Lesson 11: Why We Should Care

Lesson 11: Why We Should Care and Other Small Details of Stealing Art
© Melissa Olivero

You might be sitting here thinking that I am making a big fuss over nothing.

You are saying to yourself: "Creating signature tags and email stationery is just a hobby, right? No one is getting hurt by my snagging and creating for fun... With no interest in ever making a profit on my creations ... It isn't like I'm truly breaking a law. It's a hobby! If I want to take a piece of art, cut it up to tube a piece of it and then share it with some friends that is no one's business but my own. I'm not doing anything wrong."

I am here to tell you that you believe this is true because you were taught this was true. You were NOT taught correctly. It is very wrong. It unfortunately has become an industry standard on the tagging side of the community. A small group of people started to do it and now there are literally hundreds and hundreds of women (and some men) who think nothing of stealing online artwork.

One of the biggest ways to tell if you are going against the Fair Use loophole is to see if you are hurting someone's ability to earn a living.

I am here to tell you that when you snag a shared graphic on a mailing list or you actually go to a website and do it yourself, you are taking away someone's ability to earn a living. When you use a piece of art without permission from the original artist, you are hurting the original artist.

Again, I will paraphrase something I read in one of many copyright site links.... Let's say you are a guest in my home. You decided that you liked my throw blanket at the foot of my bed. You liked it so much that when you left -- you took the blanket with you, without even asking me. Who knows? If you had asked -- I might have let you borrow it, or even give it to you, if I were done with it. But you didn't even bother to ask me. How could you do that -- how could you steal from me? Why would you do that to me? I've never done anything to hurt you. You are part of my community and for that reason alone, I care about you. So why come to my home and hurt me?

When you visit someone's website, you are visiting their online home. When you visit a website and leave after saving a graphic to your hard drive without getting permission -- you have stolen it. Just because you cannot touch it or see me... The graphic is something real and so am I. People share their art online to be part of a community. They care about art and about the people who enjoy it.

So... On my royalty free photograph page where I share some personal photos for you to use and learn with... Are you going to take those photos and share them with a sharing group? Would you use them in a stat or tag without giving me credit? I am going to assume that you wouldn't even think of doing that and that you would NEVER do it. Why?

Because I am a real person to you. You have connected with me and you realize that I am a woman just like you. I am a daughter, a wife, a mother and a friend. You would never steal from me because that would be wrong.

The next email you get from a sharing group with a graphic in it that doesn't source the image so you don't even have a chance to ask permission to use it.... Take a look at that graphic. Take a really good look at it and then.... Pretend that I am the original artist.

Now, do you still want to steal it? In your mind, I'm the original artist -- do you really want to steal from me?

Why should you bother paying attention to copyright and the fact that fair use doesn't apply to this hobby? What happens if you ever decide to try to make a living from what you create? Would you want people to steal from you?