Author Topic: irony + hypocrisy: google copyrights its own images (Read 5353 times)

gillian vann · « **on:** August 05, 2013, 21:36 »

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #1 on:** August 05, 2013, 22:39 »

I noticed that yesterday.

You ever seen one live? I saw one a few years back.

marthamarks · « **Reply #2 on:** August 05, 2013, 23:08 »

Do as Google says, not as Google does.

Beppe Grillo · « **Reply #3 on:** August 06, 2013, 00:18 »

Google takes photos and © them.
Isn't what we all do?
Can you explain me where you see irony and hypocrisy in this?
(Seriously, I ask because I don't understand what you mean)

In a similar way the photos taken on Mars by Curiosity are © NASA…

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #4 on:** August 06, 2013, 00:28 »

Quote from: Beppe Grillo on August 06, 2013, 00:18

Google takes photos and © them.
Isn't what we all do?
Can you explain me where you see irony and hypocrisy in this?
(Seriously, I ask because I don't understand what you mean)

In a similar way the photos taken on Mars by Discovery are © NASA…

Not sure if I see the same thing as the OP, but what I see is that Google expects other people to respect Google's copyrights while Google tramples everyone else's (not just images, but books).

NASA copyrights the photos but (a) is government funded, so in a sense the US taxpayers are all paying for those images and (b) explicitly offers use of them (with a few rules) at no charge. Not the same circumstances at all, IMO as facilitating unlicensed uses of stock images (which are not offered for free) by indexing and linking to the large versions of images on people's web sites (such as on WP blogs where the content directory often has the full size image)

Beppe Grillo · « **Reply #5 on:** August 06, 2013, 01:34 »

^ right
Thank you Jo Ann

Xanox · « **Reply #6 on:** August 06, 2013, 03:26 »

what about property and model releases ?

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #7 on:** August 06, 2013, 04:34 »

Quote from: Xanox on August 06, 2013, 03:26

what about property and model releases ?

These are not commercial use images, but editorial.

ShadySue · « **Reply #8 on:** August 06, 2013, 07:57 »

It's like Microsoft suing to protect their brand at the drop of a hat, but positively encouraging lifting images from websites via their browser. (No idea if they were the first to introduce that, but they certainly implement it.)

Xanox · « **Reply #9 on:** August 06, 2013, 08:53 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on August 06, 2013, 04:34

Quote from: Xanox on August 06, 2013, 03:26
what about property and model releases ?

These are not commercial use images, but editorial.

are you sure ? unlike in the past now they're actually making money from Google Maps so to me it's 100% commercial as the product itself is also made of photos of a specific location that never gave google any permission.

no idea what a judge would rule about it but it looks like a gray area : the concept of editorial was born out of newspapers and books, to illustrate articles and not like today to be an integral part of a for-profit service where the images are most of what the product is all about.

sure it's not advertising photography but neither editorial in the classic sense.
if we look at any other photo sharing site they all accept complaints from people claiming they gave no permission to publish images of their homes or whatever .. so why google should make exception ? they've been already sued in the past about this and they also lost against many book/ebook publishers for the Google Book affair.

Xanox · « **Reply #10 on:** August 06, 2013, 22:52 »

by the way, i've just read this today's article on BBC web site and they're crediting one of the image to "Google StreetView" !

Rural France: A tale of two villages
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23586037

ShadySue · « **Reply #11 on:** August 07, 2013, 03:05 »

^^ They've been doing that for a while, but to be fair, if you need that particular street, where else would you get it?

Xanox · « **Reply #12 on:** August 07, 2013, 03:20 »

Quote from: ShadySue on August 07, 2013, 03:05

^^ They've been doing that for a while, but to be fair, if you need that particular street, where else would you get it?

in a perfect world they would send someone on assignment

gillian vann · « **Reply #13 on:** August 07, 2013, 06:16 »

Quote from: Xanox on August 07, 2013, 03:20

Quote from: ShadySue on August 07, 2013, 03:05
^^ They've been doing that for a while, but to be fair, if you need that particular street, where else would you get it?

in a perfect world they would send someone on assignment

exactly, and now, we just google it and lift the image from google maps. I have used the plain version of google maps many times on website (constituting commercial use) without a thought, but when I saw that © on the photography bit... I must confess I laughed. do they seriously expect anyone to care?

Xanox · « **Reply #14 on:** August 07, 2013, 07:57 »

Quote from: gillian on August 07, 2013, 06:16

Quote from: Xanox on August 07, 2013, 03:20
Quote from: ShadySue on August 07, 2013, 03:05
^^ They've been doing that for a while, but to be fair, if you need that particular street, where else would you get it?

in a perfect world they would send someone on assignment
exactly, and now, we just google it and lift the image from google maps. I have used the plain version of google maps many times on website (constituting commercial use) without a thought, but when I saw that © on the photography bit... I must confess I laughed. do they seriously expect anyone to care?

technically it's correct .. the image is (C) Google as it was done with their "google car", problem is they have no property/model release so you'll be legally liable if the owner of the house in the picture wants to sue you.

which is also another gray area : the image has been shot from a public road so probably most of the judges will laugh about the need for a property release of a random low cost home in a godforsaken town, different story if it was the megavilla of some rich hollywood celebrity, in that case you're F'ed.

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Author Topic: irony + hypocrisy: google copyrights its own images (Read 5353 times)

gillian vann

Leo Blanchette

marthamarks

Beppe Grillo

Jo Ann Snover

Beppe Grillo

Xanox

Sean Locke Photography

ShadySue

Xanox

Xanox

ShadySue

Xanox

gillian vann

Xanox

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