Dear Nigerian bloggers, there’s something you need to be aware of: posting pictures on your blog without crediting the source or getting consent is equal to stealing which can land you in hot pepper soup. You think you can’t get in trouble for that? How will they find out? Who will prosecute you? Just hear me out please. I almost got sued.
A few weeks ago I innocently uploaded a post and I love my posts to go with a great photo so I did what most bloggers would do, Google a picture that gives meaning to my content and I found the perfect one, a floating picture on the web! I quickly uploaded and published the post! Few hours later I got contacted by the owner asking where I got the photo from, “I’m like kilode?” I got it from Google. I got to learn that the person who contacted me was a model and before I knew it her agency contacted me to ask where I got the picture from, again I said Google O_O
I quickly removed the photo from my blog and In that time I started panicking because I’m like, warrrisalldis? Can’t I just Google search a photo and use it ni? I started doing my research online and was gobsmacked to learn that I had to get permission to use even a random picture on Google. .. I didn’t know about that. I’m just a blogger trying to create content. At least I didn’t know and if I got sued I was going to stick to “I didn’t know”, but according to law, Ignorance is not an excuse, that’s what my lawyer friend told me and that’s when I started crying big tears. The agency and the model were so kind to let me go without taking it to the next level and I was issued a warning. What if I was sued? They had the right. If anyone sues me where will I get money to pay? Ah! Gbese!
This brings me to what happened yesterday on twitter: @elnathan took some pictures in Abuja and some bloggers used it on their blogs without reference or permission and some people didn’t think it was wrong. IT IS WRONG. Imagine someone passing off your work as theirs…Nigerian bloggers we need to become aware of the legal realities of blogging. We need to do better. Be professional about blogging. If you’re a blogger, you need to take time off to learn about copyright laws.
Apart from being sued, do you know that photography is a source of livelihood for some people? When you don’t pay for their pictures or get their permission to use their images you are ruining their business. It’s not fair. I am still learning and I want us all to be aware of this. Ignorance is not bliss.
This is just an introductory post for this topic. Watch out for part 2.
But First of all:
– Avoid taking photos from random Google search
– If you need to use any photo, get permission from the owner
– If you can’t determine who the owner is then don’t use it
– If you got it off another blog it is possible they are not aware of copyright issues
– Even if you have a disclaimer on the photo, don’t use it
– Take your own photos.
