Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I'd Like to Have THAT Job......

I was reading the blog of a witty (and busy!) lady from the United Kingdom, Lakeland Jo, who posted a warning to all bloggers today about using copyrighted material on blog entries.

Seems she got a stern warning about a copyrighted image on her blog, and the writer informed her that a second offense would result in the deletion of her blog.

The offending image was of the golden arches associated with a particular fast food joint, whose name I am now terrified to type here for fear of stepping on someone's toes.

Really? Seriously?

These folks don't have anything better to do with their time?

I would think they would welcome ANY publicity, considering A) the economy; and B) the stigma these days of admitting you eat at the golden-arches-fast-food-place.

Then I started thinking about all the images that I've used on my blog.

There's the vodka bottle. (Ironically, I believe this exact same image appears on Lakeland Jo's blog about four entries down from her warning to all bloggers. Ha ha ha ha ha)

And the Hess logo.

Not to mention the picture of Courtney Kupets, which I did NOT take myself. I have lots of pictures of gymnasts' backs and butts and upside down and flying over the uneven bars, but none of them are that good.

Or the picture from the movie Chicago, which I'm sure they would take offense at even though I did give credit as to the source.

Or the picture of Monk from the television show.

Do you think I could put in an application for that job? Imagine the cocktail party conversation:

  • Guest: What do you do?
  • Me: Oh, I read blogs.
  • Guest: No, really.
  • Me: Seriously, I read blogs and search for copyright violations. It's very rewarding.
  • Guest: I think I left some laundry in the dryer, the stuff with the label that says 'tumble dry medium, remove promptly.' I'll have to go now.

Okay, you know that's a bogus conversation because A) I don't have guests over who don't already know what I do for a living; and B) we don't have cocktail parties, we have beer and nachos during a football game.

I know copyright is a serious issue and people don't want other people (for example, malicious bloggers like you and me) using their stuff for free, but come on..... The golden arches?

Seriously?

2 comments:

Julie said...

There's an interesting new book entitled, Remix: making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy that covers this very topic. The book is mainly concerned with music, but the author, Lawrence Lesig claims that all of the recent copyright tempest in a teapot will not even be relevant in 20 years, that the next generation considers remixing as original art. The book is quite interesting and easy to read. Check it out.

Anonymous said...

yep. seriously.