Speaking Volumes

For years and years and years now, we have told people: the internet is very public! Don’t give out your info! It doesn’t matter if its ‘only on your pages.’ As a Librarian and teacher I’ve tried to explain the concept of intellectual property and copyright. I’ve explained just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD.

 

Still… almost daily I see young people copying pictures from websites into Word documents, power point presentations, printed to cut out for display. Are there teachers at the receiving end of these projects asking: where did you get this picture? Do you have permission to use it? I doubt it. 

 

So is it any wonder that a personal American family photo ended up on a billboard in Prague? Not to me. 

 

I’ve now heard this story from a few sources. Some report the family as being amused, some report the family as being upset. All seem to report the family as being surprised. I suppose hearing from a traveling friend that he saw your Christmas photo in a shop window, would be a bit surprising, but after you’ve posted it online?

 

Although I heard this story on the radio (two different stations), in a two minute search, I found the first hand account online. You can read it at:

 

 

You can also see the pictures. 

 

I have to wonder, did the radio stations that announced to the universe, come to their website and see the pictures get permission? Did this family stop posting their pictures online? Did the business owner in Prague give it a second thought that smiling photo he was using were real people somewhere who might not like it? Will anyone else even pause before they click the “copy” button?

 

I doubt it. If you don’t want your photo on a billboard, in a Middle School power point project, on someone’s bedroom wall – don’t upload it.