28 January 2008
Posted at 15:18
in
business
This morning, a kind soul alerted me to this particular thread (which has now become extremely heated) on Etsy Forums in which it came to light that a 3rd party website called Polyvore is allowing its members to upload other people's images and manipulate them to create collages online. Without permission from the creators/owners. Yeah, and they even let you remove watermarks if the original images happen to have them.
Apart from being lame, it only encourages intellectual property theft by perpetuating the misconception that everything on the web is free for all. Well, technically it could be, but whatever happened to original artists' rights?! Polyvore users continue to be sadly ignorant.
Yes, I can see how the idea empowers any wannabe fashion editor or art curator, but wtf is the point of these collages anyway? How could they have come up with such a disrespectful idea? Not a single Etsy seller is being credited on all the images uploaded, and I feel really bad for the visual artists whose work, not just photos, has been ripped apart, defaced or altered in any way.
Here's what a Polyvore admin had to say:
Update at 4.36PM:
Polyvore responded to my Notice of Infringement within 10 minutes. They've removed the offending items. Thankfully they are taking note of the furore within the Etsy community and are remedying the issue. However I still don't support or agree with their raison d'être and the execution of their business model. If there is one.
Apart from being lame, it only encourages intellectual property theft by perpetuating the misconception that everything on the web is free for all. Well, technically it could be, but whatever happened to original artists' rights?! Polyvore users continue to be sadly ignorant.
Yes, I can see how the idea empowers any wannabe fashion editor or art curator, but wtf is the point of these collages anyway? How could they have come up with such a disrespectful idea? Not a single Etsy seller is being credited on all the images uploaded, and I feel really bad for the visual artists whose work, not just photos, has been ripped apart, defaced or altered in any way.
Here's what a Polyvore admin had to say:
Polyvore is an online community for creating collages made from images sourced from the web.Anyway... go have a look. I'm sure you'll spot many Etsy artists you know. Fuck Polyvore.
Polyvore is not about stealing anyone's copyrighted images.
The images, which are always imported by individual Polyvore members, are stored as low-resolution copies which are not suitable for making prints or sale, etc...
We also always make a point of linking back to the source so that if someone becomes interested in a item, they can go back to the original to find out more and perhaps make a purchase. We believe that this is a form of free, extra exposure for your work.
However, If you are unhappy about your images being included in Polyvore, you can send us a DMCA notice. When contacting us, please make sure to tell us exactly which items we should remove.
Update at 4.36PM:
Polyvore responded to my Notice of Infringement within 10 minutes. They've removed the offending items. Thankfully they are taking note of the furore within the Etsy community and are remedying the issue. However I still don't support or agree with their raison d'être and the execution of their business model. If there is one.