Pinterest - both good and bad
Please do not pin multiple photos from tutorials or recreate full tutorials from my blog on Pinterest, Facebook or any other website.
Please do not pin every photo from a blog post to Pinterest or any other website, whether it is finished work or tutorials. One or two reminder pins is sufficient to find the full blog post for future reference.
If you've had a Pinterest pin removed at my request that was a single pin, it is typically due to that image being hot-linked on other websites and the only way to resolve the issue is to remove the source image from Pinterest, or it was part of a removal request where someone has pinned a large section of my blog to Pinterest.
Further details below:
I've written about copyright in the past, but I have had a few people contact me about Pinterest.
I recently asked Pinterest to remove over 400 pins from a board where the user was pinning entire sections of my blog including many full tutorials. The user has done this in the past, and each time I've asked Pinterest to remove the images. The behavior continued, so I finally took the time to go through every pin to have all of my work removed from those boards.
The only way to tell if it's a re-pin or an original pin is by opening each one and backtracking through the links. With over 400 to do, I went for the easy way.
I do understand that Pinterest is a means for people to both save links to tutorials and to discover artists' work in the first place. However, please understand that when large sections of my work and tutorials are pinned, it essentially equates to my work being reproduced in its entirety on another website. In fact, each pin creates a new but exact duplicate of a copyrighted work using Pinterest's numbering/naming system. From there, the images can be republished onto other websites without links back to the original source, which is harder to track. If my work is published in its entirety elsewhere, then people have no reason to visit my blog.
Pinterest also puts the responsibility solely on the user as to whether they have the right to use the images they choose to pin. A copyright holder can ask Pinterest to levy "strikes" against a user for violating copyright. I don't know the full policy for Pinterest, but I do know Facebook will block repeat offenders. Just because Pinterest exists doesn't mean users are exempt from copyright law or in any way protected by Pinterest if they get into legal trouble.
I don't mind a photo or two pinned, but this large scale copying was out of hand. I understand that many people who pin responsibly might be caught in these sweeps. It's not a commentary on those users, and I'm sorry if it causes confusion, offense or hurt feelings. That is not my intention. As they say, it takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. :\
There is no easy answer, so I try to strike a balance between being flattered at one or two images pinned and fighting copyright infringement where entire sections are posted to Pinterest, Facebook or other websites.
Additionally, if you've had a Pinterest pin or other image removed at my request that was a single pin as noted above, it is typically due to that image being hot-linked on multiple other websites and the only way to resolve the issue is to remove the source image.
I will also remove images that don't link back to my blog or if they link back to an image file and not a web page on my blog. Sometimes, when there are a lot of pins being made, I will disable pinning from my website to slow down the amount of work I need to do in order to get those large postings removed.
I love to create and share ideas on my blog, but I do think the rights of artists should be protected and respected. It bothers me when I find my friends' works unattributed or copied in whole as well. It's a fine balance between publicity and infringement. I am doing the best I can.