Concerns about image theft

I really didn't think it was necessary to ask permission to do so. I'm not making a profit from it nor is anyone else and you are already free to use it as your wallpaper so using them in game seems pretty harmless. Now of course if the artist complains they should be taken down but I don't think I would worry too much about this. I recently updated the events to give proper credit to the artists and where to find the pictures in the readme file.

images i've used so far:
GalCiv ones, i don't think stardock will mind too much lol

a screenshot from Firearms mod (firearmsmod.com), which i also don't think they will care too much about

a picture of saddam hussein, i don't think he will mind too much

so i think i'm in the clear

I use some wall papers pctures but mostly I jsut make my own pictures using my cheap paint sets and stuff

Check out http://www.greyday.org

If that doesn't work, check out: http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:xtZqfAWZzpUC:www.greyday.org/+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

(the first link doesn't seem to be working for me right now)

ANYway, that should explain in explicit terms, why using art belonging to other people for stuff like mods, your web pages, etc. is a bad thing.

~SDC~

Unfortunately the site does not seem to be up right now.

M

I know. A sysadmin I know said that it expired a few days ago (maybe a bit over a week). Guess they forgot to pay their fees.

Second link - click on that, then paste the stuff after "Link" into the browser, and you should see Google's archived version.

~SDC~

BTW, the intended site is greyday.org, not grayday.org, which is a hostile opposition group

M

Right, I typed in "greyday.org" Just checked it, too.

~SDC~

Alas, people CAN protect their images by not making them saveable or Downloadable... whether they do it or not is their choice.

But I agree that asking for permission just seems like the right thing to do.

I think using publicity still of actors and movies etc is acceptable. As the more exposure they get the better.

~SDC~

You are correct. Public domain is different than using digital images made by some amateur who would like some control over his work.

M

Many of the artists I know who object to having their work used without their permission happen to be professionals.

~SDC~

I know most people get pretty snippy about others taking their web designs, art etc.. and using them elsewhere. You should never do so, without permission first. It is common curtesy for one, and it could be the law, for the other thing. LOL

fleabitfox

"Alas, people CAN protect their images by not making them saveable or Downloadable... whether they do it or not is their choice."

That's an IE only feature. For instance, Opera could care less what sort of tags you put there, it will let you download any image. Moreso, in any browser, the image is there in the cache directory. The only sort of protections that do you any good is to have a big, ugly watermark across the image and allow people to purchase/otherwise ask for permission if they want the un-uglied version.

It's easy to "borrow" images from any site whether or not they use special tags, disallow right clicks, etc.

I have asked permissions with this kind of message:

"Hey! I saw you have a very wonderful image at www.******.com. Great work! It was called "********." I would like to ask you to have permission to that image. I would do an "event file" to a game called "Galactic Civilizations.." Here's a example link where it would go.. http://www.galciv.com/library.asp
There could be many downloads.. Your name (and website address) would be added to the ReadMe-file inside the .zip-file
So, what do you say? I can't do such a great images, so it would be wonderful if i could use it..
-- orangebear"

Almoust everyone have given me a permission, unless the picture is dedicated to some company..
i haven't got all replies yet, but have a permission to use some cool images
( i do myself some images too, but they are not good as those are LOL )
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And i think it's a little bit of different situation if u use some image without permission.. And u do a lots of changes to the image?? It's not then the original image ( but i still like to ask permission to use the correct image )
..These artists don't like if you use theier images to any commercials purposes, but i think that any noncommercial publicity is very welcome to them..

You don't have the right to modify an artist's production withot his consent either. This law may vary per country of course.

yeah

You won't believe the e-mail i just got :



"Dear Galcivver,



It has come to my attention that you have downloaded the Angelina for Governor v 4. mod and are using the aforementioned files to replace the static marine with a baseball cap that comes with the game.



Since you did not ask me for permission, I ask that you immediately cease and desist the use of my image and replace it with one of say, Xenia Seeberg. Preferably one with Xenia in a red wig from Lexx.



I would also note that the stolen images were from the Tomb Raider movie which your wife did not like.



Sincerely (and yes I spend my free time searching game websites for unauthorized likenesses),



Angelina Jolie"
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LO*L just have to say LO*L!!!
HAHAHAA...

LOL LOL
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Here's a true story. When I started grad school, I wrote this tesbed game for my resarch group. Basically it's a tank battle environment where people design intelligent agents that can battle each using this AI architecture called Soar. These tanks battle in a somewhat maze-like environment, so I needed to get a few tileable images to represent the corridors and walls with. So, I pulled some old Mac RPG, and extracted a few 32x32 cartoony icons for grass, rocks and a few trees, sorta like something you'd find in the original zeldas. To make a long story short, this environment turned out to be pretty useful. We used it for conference workshops, in AI classes we taught, and as a downloadable tutorial, etc.. Several, years later I get this e-mail from the guy who wrote the RPG (back in the early 90's!) saying that he was shocked to see his graphics in TankSoar. I remind you I only grabbed a handful of small graphics that weren't even desktop icon worthy, and I was only using them in a public-domain academic research tool. Nevertheless, he came across them. Apparently, he was now doing something AI related at Microsoft. They wanting to learn how to use our AI architecture, so they downloaded the tutorial which uses the game for its exercise. They were taking a test drive and, bam, up popped Tanksoar and a bunch of his little graphics. Can you believe that? What are the odds? He was very cool about it, and just told me to put his name somewhere. My advisor was less than happy, though.

In a related bizarre story, I made a TankSoar home page that summer. Of course, I once again needed to find a picture, this time of a real tank for the front page. I did a bunch of searches and came across this text-less page with a picture of this really cool looking floating tank. I embossed the word Soar on the side of it and plopped it on the page. More than 2 years later, the Phantom Menace came out and these were the tanks that the trade federation dropped on Naboo. It was very surprising. I'm pretty sure they hadn't released any photo realistic renders at the point. Well, I still have it as the main banner on the Tanksoar page

It is interesting to read the various perspectives of how artwork ownership (and use thereof) is perceived by different people. As someone who makes a living (and has to feed a family) from producing graphic designs and artwork, keeping a high value on our craft is an increasingly difficult prospect. Before the internet, plagiarism was a big issue. Now it is enormous.

Most of the issues I come across concerning use of my artwork are honest mistakes where people don't understand the intellectual property and copyright implications of original work. BTW, these issues apply equally to artwork, photographs and original writing (even computer coding).

Here are a few examples of plagiarism that may surprise you:
- Making an illustration using an idea from someone else's photograph is plagiarism.
- Purchasing artwork and then making copy(ies) that were not part of the original agreement is plagiarism.
- Purchasing artwork and then changing it (unless copyright was also assigned) is also plagiarism.

So you see, even if you buy the use of artwork (or get permission to use it)- usually you actually don't own the unrestricted use of the artwork. If you are simply just taking artwork or images then that really is ethically very wrong.

Finally, it isn't specifically the credit I look for if someone uses artwork I have done - it is to make sure I am not misrepresented. The most common thing that happens to me is that my artwork is changed (always for the worse) yet they keep my credit on it.(Gotta try and maintain a good reputation )

I'm in a bit of a quandary here then. I've just started recently modding, and have taken some pictures off the web. However, the site I took them from was all by one person, whose splash (i.e. web hook & loading bar) was 'free pictures'. There were all hers/his, and the site made it explicitly clear that s/he was not charging for them, and did not mind downloads. This is in contrast to a lot of sites I see saying 'free art' when its blatantly obvious that they are ripped (I saw some of the original D&D art recently)


In the readme I have given a link to the site, their email as well as emailing her/him for permission. In the txt file I have indicated that the pictures have been altered (in quality) and the originals are much better quality available at the site.


Honestly, in this case I don't see the problem. However I know the rules (for instance at Elfwood, personal permission is still needed, even for amateur stuff) and agree with them. However, this is non-commercial fan modding, and I think most people go out of their way to give credit: what really hurts artists is some geezer knocking off x30,000 T-shirts or posters without permission, surely?

Including a cheese cake Boris Vallejo is going to be seen straight away anyhow.

I always send an e-mail to the owners of the pictures asking their permission to use them, so far no one has answered me back, but in their disclaimers you can find that the only thing that they required is for you to give them credit for their artwork, and some of them ask to place a link to their websites, you can do that in your text file document that should be in your zip pack.