Nowhere-Fast.net

I was over at Wired and I noticed an article about a woman who had a YouTube video that used one of photos removed.

Now, if some of the people who commented on this story are to be believed then this woman is engaging in a heinous act of creative sabotage aimed at stopping the free exchange of ideas in a brave new world where anything goes, man.

That’s bullshit.  This woman is a professional photographer and if someone wants to use an image of hers - even if it’s for something completely noncommercial - she deserves to be respected.  How can anyone reasonably assume that you can just go out and take whatever piece of creative content you like without paying for it or even making a note of where it comes from?  Worse, how can people defend the practice?

If you want to engage in the open content marketplace where everything is free for anyone to use and re-use as they see fit then have a great time - just don’t expect everyone else to agree with your philosophy.  I can’t steal someone else’s car because “dude, cars should be free, like the wind!”  Similarly you can’t steal someone’s photograph because you want to use it in your project and because you feel that photographs should be free.  Taking good pictures is hard.

What bothers me about this sort of thing is the complete lack of respect it shows for the wishes of content creators.  If someone says that they don’t want their photograph or story or poem or piece of art being used then it shouldn’t be used - it’s that simple.  This woman isn’t in the “wrong” because she didn’t want her work used without her permission, the people who used it are in the wrong.   Anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot.