turbguy wrote:That's not the Original image, it's the "large" size, resampled down by Flickr to 1024 x 410. The original is 4522 x 1833.
So he hasn't got the high quality copy of the picture anyway - why so much excitement then?
Arjayuu wrote:For me, the thing that is most annoying is that someone posts someone else's image but does not give the credit to the owner or the link back to the Flickr or other site they got the image from. If they don't give this credit, in essence they are posting it and giving the impression it is their own image: wrong!
Agree. As I said earlier - it's unethical. But theft? Hardly. More like bad manners, in the context of this particular case. It's not as if Lkevin was presenting his page as his own professional portfolio, mixed with pictures of his mother and all...
Regardless of whether they can download the image from someone's Flickr or other site, copyright in the image stays with the original author and they need the author's permission to use that image. Technically this is the case too even if all they are doing is posting it on their site never mind using it for commercial purposes!
Using others work without permission for commercial purposes is criminal infringement in most jurisdictions. I agree that it is wrong to do that (though the cynic in me is saying that if the author of the work is not marketing it and has no intention to do so in a particular territory then he suffers no damage if someone else does it anyway, but I accept most people will have an issue with such view, myself included, probably).
However, as to just using an image from the Web for personal purposes - here the absolutist interpretation of copyright is out of place in my opinion. You put anything on the 'net - you must expect people will use it. It's almost as if you put it in the public domain and I think it's about time the authors recognised this reality.
If I see a picture that I personally like I will often casually DL it to be looked at later at leisure and move on. I will not bother to try to find the author or get his permission. As far as I am concerned - if you don't want me to have your picture - don't put it on the 'net in the first place, and if you did, it amounts to your consent for my using it but for *personal* use only.
Let's face it - your (or mine) desire to control your (or mine) picture in such circumstances has nothing to do with commerce, it's a simple combination of vanity and a desire to be "in control". But I don't see why we, as authors of our pictures, should have any right to expect that we can satisfy both at the same time.
Regards