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#425

After my last post here, my personal art website was hacked/hijacked and I decided to shut it down. I’ve also pulled down all images on most art sites. I won’t try to guess motives, culprits or anything else as I feel it would be too much of a distraction from my goals, which is completely unacceptable.

Before I go off and create, I think it is important to relay this:

If anyone thinks paid art registries is the answer, think again.

Paying an art registry is like putting a lock on a tool box. The lock itself is only for honest or honorable people. A dishonest or dishonorable person will simply carry off the tool box and cut the lock off later. This is also true for these paid art registries. If someone likes your art, they will do with it what they will, and in most cases you’ll never know it was done, until it is too late. They will edit the art and steal it. They will steal the idea and rework it enough to pass scrutiny. There will be no end to what they will do to rob an artist of their hard work.

My motives for displaying my art here and in other places (just to be damned clear about it):

I put my work up here and in other places for only two reasons.

One, to get valuable critiques from artists who are better than myself (and there are so many, and from many countries), to help me grow to be a better artist.

Two, to bring attention to my art and my own existence, to further my own work in the very near future.

I’m not interested in gaining employment, so I’m not any level of competition. I never intended to try to go to work for any film studio, game creation studio or ad agency. I’ve already worked for over 20 years in the entertainment world, making other people’s dreams/ideas come to fruition. My push now will be the following of my own dreams/ideas. Nothing will stop this, now matter how good a hacker is, or how much of my work is stolen.

Make no mistake about it. The dishonest and dishonorable WILL steal my work and/or ideas. They WILL see benefit from it. They WILL rationalize their deeds behind many reasons. Because I’m an American, because I’m full of ideas, because I’m good or bad at what I do, because I’m perceived as a threat to someone’s employment, or because I dare to speak out against people who do bad things to others. This is OK though. I accept it as a reality of the world in which I live. A world filled with many opposing ideas, ideologies, etc. People who feel opposite of me will always feel vindicated in what they do to me, and I’m not going to expend badly needed energy trying to stop them.

What they won’t do is stop me from creating and reaping the benefits from what I do, so now I’m off to begin doing exactly that, and leave this all behind me.

Good luck to everyone else.

Mac

#426

An interesting article relating to Google’s posting ads worldwide as a part of a class action lawsuit that relates to literary Orphan Works:

A Google Search of a Distinctly Retro Kind

#427

Mac-Imagery -

Make no mistake about it. The dishonest and dishonorable WILL steal my work and/or ideas. They WILL see benefit from it. They WILL rationalize their deeds behind many reasons. Because I’m an American, because I’m full of ideas, because I’m good or bad at what I do, because I’m perceived as a threat to someone’s employment, or because I dare to speak out against people who do bad things to others. This is OK though. I accept it as a reality of the world in which I live. A world filled with many opposing ideas, ideologies, etc. People who feel opposite of me will always feel vindicated in what they do to me, and I’m not going to expend badly needed energy trying to stop them.

What they won’t do is stop me from creating and reaping the benefits from what I do, so now I’m off to begin doing exactly that, and leave this all behind me.

QFA - to the word and number :wink:

#428

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#429

There is a place for an orphan copyright consideration in the law that would greatly benefit artists doing historical work and research.

Bombarding your congressperson with form e-mails will do little to make sure the law has the proper protections for your non-abandoned works.

I’d urge everyone not to take the “Illustrators Partnership” explanation at its face, as it seriously misstates the realities of “orphan copyright” proposals that are being considered now.
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#430

Interesting article: Has online piracy reached a tipping point?

#431

Please refrain from encouraging a discussion on piracy practices. Open support of piracy will get you banned from this site. If you have strong views on this subject I urge you to refrain from discussing them on cgtalk.

The original subject is about the copyright bill as it applies to artists.

Thank you.

#432

Kanga, no offense to you, but are you serious?

Please look up some of my contributions to this Orphan Works thread, in fact I started the first thread on the subject here. I think you will find that I am obviously not a supporter of piracy. It’s an article that talks broadly about creative content producers rights and IP theft via the internet - something that I think is relevent to the topic being discussed here.

#433

QFSupport. :slight_smile: I think Chris just misinterpreted your intentions.

#434

…my fault I guess for not posting often enough. You don’t show your mug around a place for months on end and I guess ppl forget what you stand for :hmm:

#435

So does that mean this bill is going to be passed?

I’m not in the US, but i think i will actaully take all the work offline that i can find that i’ve done, i don’t expect it to get stolen, but if there is a chance of some one using my work that i’ve spent many hours making and even longer learning to make and that’d i’d have no say in the matter, then i’d rather not show my work online, with out a large water mark atlesat.

This is stupid, it’s clear that the only people who will benefit are large established businesses, i know for a fact that congress (?) can see this, they don’t care about the small person who has to make a living, aslong as the big companies pull in money and pay taxes.

#436

I’m not completely clear on where the legislation stands at the moment - I’m sure that it will be brought up again in the future.

Orphan Works legislation actually originally stems from the desire of companies such as Google and Microsoft to acquire and make available “dark” or orphaned literary works. Visual artists are affected by extension. A good recent article on the controversy surrounding Google’s desire to acquire literary orphan works is here:

Google’s Plan for Out-of-Print Books Is Challenged
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/technology/internet/04books.html

Now millions of orphan books may get a new legal guardian. Google has been scanning the pages of those books and others as part of its plan to bring a digital library and bookstore, unprecedented in scope, to computer screens across the United States. But a growing chorus is complaining that a far-reaching settlement of a suit brought against Google by publishers and authors is about to grant the company too much power over orphan works.

#437

No I see I omitted a part of the post.
The advice was to cgtalk members. There are wide views on software use. Links to a piracy case invites discussion on the subject which often gets members banned. I was not commenting on your stand on the issue, just asking you to not post links to the subject.

#438

Ok, gottcha. I guess I could have changed the title, didn’t know the “p” word was that hot an issue on the forums. The article still contains good info for those tracking the latest about online theft prosecution and cases.

All has been quiet on the OW front of late, the only current news I’ve been able to turn up is what Rebecca has posted regarding the Google book search settlment. I’m hoping the House and Senate are more focused on helping the US climb out of this economic slump.

#439

A NYTimes Article:

Justice Dept. Opens Antitrust Inquiry Into Google Books Deal

#440

http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat060409.html

It appears that the copyright office is still pursuing passage of the orphan bill. This comes from the June 4th report to Congress:

“The Office has worked closely with the Senate Judiciary Committee on other pressing copyright matters. One significant issue has been orphan works, i.e., the situation where a potential user cannot identify or locate the owner of copyrighted works (including literary works, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings and other creative works). In April 2008, the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 (S. 2913) was introduced in the Senate and passed by unanimous consent on September 26, 2008. Due to several unresolved issues in the House, the Office expects to assist the House Judiciary staff on this subject in 2009.”

There’s no indication how the copyright office will pursue this matter, but it’s frustrating that it’s not a dead subject yet within the government agency that has a role in protecting copyrights. The main problem with the bills is that they were too open for abuse. It would be better if the copyright office put efforts in fixing specific areas that are problematic.

#441

thanks for the heads up…

Ill post more updates soon.

-R

#442

http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/06/09/senator-hatch-speaks-at-world-copyright-summit/id=4004/

Here’s Senator Orrin Hatch still pushing for the legislation:

I also continue to be very active on passing orphan works legislation.

Last year, the Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation to encourage the use of orphan works – works that may be protected by copyright but whose owners cannot be identified or located. Countless artistic creations – books, photos, paintings and music – around the country are effectively locked away and unavailable for the general public to enjoy because the owner of the copyright for the work is unknown.

Unfortunately, it often isn’t easy to identify or find these owners of copyrighted work. To make matters worse, many are discouraged or reluctant to use these works out of fear of being sued should the owner eventually step forward.

[i]For years, I have been working with industry stakeholders and copyright experts, including Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, to pass orphan works legislation. The bill seeks to unite users and copyright owners, and to ensure that copyright owners are compensated for the use of their works. I couldn’t agree more with Register Peters when she said, “A solution to the orphan works problem is overdue and the pending legislation is both fair and responsible.”

[/i]I love how he emphasizes “The bill seeks to unite users and copyright owners, and to ensure that copyright owners are compensated for the use of their works.” There is nothing in the bill that improves the ability to unite users and copyright owners. All the bill does is remove penalties for the use of orphan works. The orphan works bills provide no protections to copyright owners that they don’t already have under copyright law. Copyright owners gain nothing with these bills.

#443

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/technology/internet/07google.html?_r=1&hpw

Looks like google has hit a little snag in their plans.

It’s interesting to see who’s against Google, If I read the article right, it’s some of the same people who support the Orphan Bill…

Cheers,

Mike

#444

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