ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. ALL USERS PLEASE READ

[Catwoman]

I double-dog dare you to tell him!

You can quadruple-dog dare me and chase me with an actual dog and I still won't be the one to tell him!

[Catwoman]

Susan, I hope that seeing so many supporting you, and seeing all of us old timers who heard about this and came back for a moment to support you, makes it crystal clear to you what a special, beautiful thing you created when you created these boards and your resources. To this day, I talk fondly of the diverse, interesting, smart women I've met because of you, and how rich and interesting my home school journey was as a result. I met you personally the summer before my daughter began "Kindergarten", and have depended on your advice and all my "imaginary" friends from the WTM boards throughout the entire process, and I always tell everyone who will listen how very fortunate I feel to have been given the opportunity to experience the unique path you blazed. I'm better because it, and I know others are, too.

 

Thank you for all you have done, for most of it blessed me in some way at some time and continues to do so. It would be hard to overstate how loved and appreciated you are and what a difference you have made.

 

Praying for this to end quickly and favorably, my dear friend.

Beautifully said, Robin. :)

[Janna]

Susan, I hope that seeing so many supporting you, and seeing all of us old timers who heard about this and came back for a moment to support you, makes it crystal clear to you what a special, beautiful thing you created when you created these boards and your resources.  To this day, I talk fondly of the diverse, interesting, smart women I've met because of you, and how rich and interesting my home school journey was as a result.  I met you personally the summer before my daughter began "Kindergarten", and have depended on your advice and all my "imaginary" friends from the WTM boards throughout the entire process, and I always tell everyone who will listen how very fortunate I feel to have been given the opportunity to experience the unique path you blazed.  I'm better because it, and I know others are, too.

 

Thank you for all you have done, for most of it blessed me in some way at some time and continues to do so.  It would be hard to overstate how loved and appreciated you are and what a difference you have made.

 

Praying for this to end quickly and favorably, my dear friend.

 

Amen.

 

[Colleen in NS]

Well, here's a news flash: I don't want to be doing this either. I hate it.

 

Nor is it at all fair that I'm having to deal with a current situation which is frightening, potentially very expensive, and not at all my fault. And it is ridiculous that I'm being threatened.

 

Guess what? I am. And the posters on this board won't be paying for it. I will.

 

So I respectfully disagree.

 

And I am extremely grateful to those of you who have taken the time, however "ridiculous" and "unfair," to report and help out.

 

SWB

 

Oh no!  I am so sorry to hear about this.  I'll do what I can, too.  Many hugs, my dear!

 

[pdalley]

I only had one picture I posted - of a famous horse - that I could find and I deleted it. The rest were embedded Youtube videos but if someone finds something report it or let me know and I'll get it ASAP.

 

Sorry you are dealing with this Susan.

 

The avatar is me - circa 1985. I paid a pretty penny for those pictures as a HS senior and Olan Mills is free to contact me. Believe it or not - my grandmother SAVED the receipt and I still have it. It was in her belongings when she passed.  :lol:

[LibraryLover]

ETA: Ah. I get it.

[jenn-]

Its crazy to think celeb photos are somehow copyright protected.

 

I think they are technically copyright protected by the photographer that took them or the people that bought the photo from the photographer.

[aggieamy]

<<< I'm back.  I emailed the lovely lovely Ms. Halpin and I have permission to use her art as my avatar.  Yay.  I'm so happy.  And as a double bonus now I know who she is and I'm going to buy one of her pictures for DD.  

[Mrs Mungo]

<<< I'm back. I emailed the lovely lovely Ms. Halpin and I have permission to use her art as my avatar. Yay. I'm so happy. And as a double bonus now I know who she is and I'm going to buy one of her pictures for DD.

I love happy endings (beginnings?).

[LibraryLover]

But they end up all over the internet. People stake out celebs. Comfuzzle.

I think they are technically copyright protected by the photographer that took them or the people that bought the photo from the photographer.

 

[jenn-]

But they end up all over the internet. People stake out celebs. Comfuzzle.

 

I totally agree that once the photo hits the internet, the photographer has zero chance of keeping it under their own control.  This doesn't change the fact that it is still technically their photo.  Unfortunately it seems like someone has decided that this wonderfully helpful and totally innocent website needs to have a copyright shake down and that's really sad.

[birchbark]

Well, goodbye old avatar.   :nopity:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Susan, for this forum and all you do. Hope this all resolves quickly and smoothly.

[*Lulu*]

I couldn't find my gator on the web so I took a pic of one I own.

 

(Okay, technically Punk is the keeper of the critter. But since the gator has been lodging rent free with us since '08 I feel like he owes me a solid.)

[LibraryLover]

You're right. It seems odd to make it an issue in this venue, but I understand artistic license. I was thinking of paparazzi pix; stalking photos. But I guess even those can become iconic.

 

But seriously?  Much ado...

I totally agree that once the photo hits the internet, the photographer has zero chance of keeping it under their own control.  This doesn't change the fact that it is still technically their photo.  Unfortunately it seems like someone has decided that this wonderfully helpful and totally innocent website needs to have a copyright shake down and that's really sad.

 

[Renai]

Susan, I hope that seeing so many supporting you, and seeing all of us old timers who heard about this and came back for a moment to support you, makes it crystal clear to you what a special, beautiful thing you created when you created these boards and your resources.  To this day, I talk fondly of the diverse, interesting, smart women I've met because of you, and how rich and interesting my home school journey was as a result.  I met you personally the summer before my daughter began "Kindergarten", and have depended on your advice and all my "imaginary" friends from the WTM boards throughout the entire process, and I always tell everyone who will listen how very fortunate I feel to have been given the opportunity to experience the unique path you blazed.  I'm better because it, and I know others are, too.

 

Thank you for all you have done, for most of it blessed me in some way at some time and continues to do so.  It would be hard to overstate how loved and appreciated you are and what a difference you have made.

 

Praying for this to end quickly and favorably, my dear friend.

 

The bolded. I "met" SWB in the first edition of WTM the year before dd was to start kindergarten (October 2003, I think). The December prior to K, I met a lot of folks on ye ole WTM board, and that set me on track to homeschooling. Dd is now in 9th, and even though I was never a strict WTMer, I credit these boards and community for helping throughout the journey. It means a lot to be able to come back to these boards.

 

There have been many bumps along the way, but have always come through for the good in the end. Hoping this too, will pass.

[Negin]

Chris in VA has asked this, as did I, I assume that I have to stop with all the images for the birthday threads, right? :(

[Laura Corin]

I don't think I ever learned to post pictures - I always used links.  I've changed my avatar to one of my two boys wrestling a few years ago on green Scottish grass.

 

Best wishes to Susan as you deal with this.

 

L

[Bang!Zoom!]

In my review for myself, I found that a company that rhymes with team o "has privacy issues" with sharing embedded video anywhere.

I used to be such a fan.  :(  Maybe we can lure Anonymous to come in and free our world.  It's like Egypt when it went transmission black out.

I think Mae West used to say, "Any press is good press".  This is horrid and mean.

I believe I'm clean, cross me off the list.

[Susan Wise Bauer]

Chris in VA has asked this, as did I, I assume that I have to stop with all the images for the birthday threads, right? :(

 

Yep. 

 

WAAH.  

 

SWB

[atozmom]

Ok, search and delete done.

 

SWB, I am so sorry that you are having to deal with this. As a pp mentioned, thank you for all of the hard work you are putting into this and not just taking the boards down. This board is invaluable and is like a home away from home.

 

ETA: I changed my profile picture. This is my picture that I took. Those are my feet  :001_smile:

[stripe]

I think they are technically copyright protected by the photographer that took them or the people that bought the photo from the photographer.

My guess is it's either a threatening letter from Getty, which they apparently like to send out (per this article that someone linked to https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140820/18020328272/getty-threatens-wrong-ip-law-firm-its-copyright-trolling-efforts.shtml )or to do with the hacked naked celebrity pics.

[Shannon in TN]

 

 

Just saying.

 

I love you, Mrs Mungo!

[southcarolinamom]

My avatar is safe -- I personally took the picture of Irish Cream cupcakes from my fledgling cupcake business.  It better be the only one out there!  LOL  :lol:

[MomatHWTK]

Perhaps we could consider this a learning experience/teachable moment.  I know some of us have children who will produce original works someday.  SWB herself has copyrighted works that she would not want to see used without her permission and/or out of context.  I imagine we have at least a few professional photographers here, maybe even an artist or two.  Do we want to learn the laws, obey them and work to change the ones that we believe are unworkable in the internet age or do we want to complain that laws spoil our fun?  I wouldn't be very happy if my DD lost the right to control her art just because someone leaked it on the internet.  :(

[Jane in NC]

Perhaps we could consider this a learning experience/teachable moment.  I know some of us have children who will produce original works someday.  SWB herself has copyrighted works that she would not want to see used without her permission and/or out of context.  I imagine we have at least a few professional photographers here, maybe even an artist or two.  Do we want to learn the laws, obey them and work to change the ones that we believe are unworkable in the internet age or do we want to complain that laws spoil our fun?  I wouldn't be very happy if my DD lost the right to control her art just because someone leaked it on the internet.   :(

 

This is a valid point.  I believe that people should be able to control the rights to their intellectual property. What has happened though is that we have a tendency to treat everything on the Internet as public domain when it is not.  I have often wondered about Pinterest for this reason.  Do attributions or links to websites from which the photos were uploaded somehow make it right? 

 

By the way, my avatar is from a photo taken by my son.  It is not going away.

 

[stripe]

But without linking, it wouldn't be much of a web.

 

I think it's entirely different to post a link to something versus passing it off as your own. I read about some CM curriculum that was just AO or something. Obviously idiotic.

 

Also as has been pointed out, there are ethics involved in where images are hosted, on both sides. If it stays on your server, am I really stealing it? And also, I am accessing your bandwith or whatever, and maybe that's obnoxious.

[wintermom]

 

Went through my posts and didn't find anything. Then I remembered it's because I don't know how to post pictures. Except for my avatar ... Took down the old picture of Ethel Mertz and found one that is public domain. 

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=public+domain+pictures+of+ethel+mertz&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_LgQVLPZCZH3yQTav4CwDQ&ved=0CDMQsAQ&biw=1093&bih=529

 

Susan -- so sorry you have this humongous headache. I too would be willing to chip in if this situation requires funding.

 

 

I can't figure out how to fit one of my own photos on my avatar, either. This is why I had placed a photo from another website. It was just way easier. So now I'm the snowy, shadow person until someone helps me with this bit of technology. It's all about life-long learning, right? ;)

 

P.S. Removing photos is significantly easier than putting them up. Phew!

[Pawz4me]

I can't figure out how to fit one of my own photos on my avatar, either. This is why I had placed a photo from another website. It was just way easier. So now I'm the snowy, shadow person until someone helps me with this bit of technology. It's all about life-long learning, right? ;)

 

P.S. Removing photos is significantly easier than putting them up. Phew!

 

Someone else recommended this site.  You upload one of your photos and it will automatically fix it to avatar size.  And then you save that picture back to your computer.

[justasque]

Chris in VA has asked this, as did I, I assume that I have to stop with all the images for the birthday threads, right? :(

Well, you don't have to stop posting birthday cake photos, you just have to make sure the ones you do post are either pics you took yourself, pics the photographer gave you permission to post, or pics in the public domain.  

 

Why not start a "cake pictures needed" thread asking people to "donate" pics they have taken, to be used in the birthday threads?  You can then right click, save them to your computer, and use them either by uploading them to WTM for your "image library" and clicking on the "my media" button to include them in the post, OR hosting them elsewhere and either clicking the "image" button or using the  HTML command.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Susan I'm so sorry for what you're going through.   I had two posts of mine deleted this morning. Not that I care about them  - after all they were from 2011. I just want to apologize if I have in any way, shape or form, contributed to the present crisis.   I owe you an incredible debt:  the whole of our homeschool journey! Plus a Well Caffeinated Cup that you brought me at the small conference in Pennsylvania about 3-4 years ago 

[Negin]

Well, you don't have to stop posting birthday cake photos, you just have to make sure the ones you do post are either pics you took yourself, pics the photographer gave you permission to post, or pics in the public domain.  

 

Why not start a "cake pictures needed" thread asking people to "donate" pics they have taken, to be used in the birthday threads?  You can then right click, save them to your computer, and use them either by uploading them to WTM for your "image library" and clicking on the "my media" button to include them in the post, OR hosting them elsewhere and either clicking the "image" button or using the  HTML command.

I like your suggestion and will try that once I'm done deleting all my previous posts. What a huge ordeal, Unfortunately, I posted so many images. 

----

 

Just wanted to say that my new avatar picture was taken by my daughter very close to where we live. 

[Shannon in TN]

For old-timers, we need a "booKs" level. (I was off the forums for awhile and don't know these newer references.) For those who even remember booKs, you get bonus points.

 

Don't forget "tea"  

[Crimson Wife]

Maybe we could all sign a one-time disclaimer where we agree not to infringe on any copyrighted material. I know I have to do that when I use the Kodak picture scanning kiosk at my local drugstore. That protects Kodak and the store from liability if someone uses the machine to make copies of a professionally taken photo that is under copyright. Any legal liability would be the user's.

[Shannon in TN]

I just want to say it's clear to me now that while I've been a member of this board for quite some time, obviously I'm not a prolific poster.  Thankfully, I only found one celeb pic and one pic of a Princess Bride tee shirt, both of which I deleted.  I guess this means I'm officially a forum lurker as opposed to a poster.

 

Now those pics of men in kilts I took myself at a local Highland games festival.  I'm not deleting those...

 

ETA: I also noticed that my pics were downloaded a few times.  If whoever downloaded them made any profit off my amateur pics, I demand royalties.  In cupcakes.

[Twigs]

Just wanted to say that my new avatar picture was taken by my daughter very close to where we live. 

It's beautiful!

[BarbecueMom]

I took down my "Dalek baking cupcakes" avatar.  Would the Daleks threaten extermination over use of their images?  Maybe.  I'm not taking chances.

[Negin]

It's beautiful!

Thank you! :)

[Sebastian (a lady)]

On the topic of a tip jar or donation link.

 

There is advertising on the page if you sign out.  (I know, I had to be reminded that it was possible to sign out.)  I started clicking on a couple of the ads every once in a while. 

 

(Besides, if advertisers thought homeschoolers were a worth pursuing demographic, maybe we could support a wider body of homeschooling magazines.)

[maize]

Maybe we could all sign a one-time disclaimer where we agree not to infringe on any copyrighted material. I know I have to do that when I use the Kodak picture scanning kiosk at my local drugstore. That protects Kodak and the store from liability if someone uses the machine to make copies of a professionally taken photo that is under copyright. Any legal liability would be the user's.

This is a great idea. Like the liability waivers we so often have to sign...SWB certainly should not be personally accountable for everything people post on this site!

[gardening momma]

This is a valid point.  I believe that people should be able to control the rights to their intellectual property. What has happened though is that we have a tendency to treat everything on the Internet as public domain when it is not.  I have often wondered about Pinterest for this reason.  Do attributions or links to websites from which the photos were uploaded somehow make it right? 

 

By the way, my avatar is from a photo taken by my son.  It is not going away.

 

Pinterest is a bookmarking website where you can keep your own bookmarks and view & search for other people's bookmarks. They lead back to the site where the picture was found (kind of like posting a hotlink here to a youtube video, except all the links are kept on one website). The only times those links do not work correctly is if the site/page no longer exists, or if the person linked not to the entire page where the picture was found, but to the picture alone (which can also be done through other bookmarking methods).

[Jane in NC]

Pinterest is a bookmarking website where you can keep your own bookmarks and view & search for other people's bookmarks. They lead back to the site where the picture was found (kind of like posting a hotlink here to a youtube video, except all the links are kept on one website). The only times those links do not work correctly is if the site/page no longer exists, or if the person linked not to the entire page where the picture was found, but to the picture alone (which can also be done through other bookmarking methods).

 

So we just need to bookmark our Benedict Cumberbatch photos cupcakes.

 

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Mrs Mungo]

Pinterest is a bookmarking website where you can keep your own bookmarks and view & search for other people's bookmarks. They lead back to the site where the picture was found (kind of like posting a hotlink here to a youtube video, except all the links are kept on one website). The only times those links do not work correctly is if the site/page no longer exists, or if the person linked not to the entire page where the picture was found, but to the picture alone (which can also be done through other bookmarking methods).

And most of the photos posted here are not uploaded, but hotlinked via the icon button. In theory, it should be the same thing. I don't want Susan or PHP to engage in a legal battle over it, but I disagree with those who imply that people are doing something unethical by hotlinking. The point of hotlinking is that 1) you aren't taking an image and 2) you aren't taking hits away from the original site, they get the hits to improve their google ranking match for that item, even if the thread here has more hits (especially with refresh).

 

Right now we are in this muddy stage of the internet where many things are not well defined and most judges don't understand the issues or the difference between uploading and hotlinking.

[creekland]

I imagine I'm soon out of likes for a period... it really is fun seeing everyone return for a short bit - albeit for a nasty situation.

 

I'd ask how you broke your (junkie) habit of visiting, but I don't particularly want to know... ;)

[Aubrey]

1. Glad I couldn't figure out how to post pics lately.

2. I've reported myself & then figured out how to remove the thing that was probably not even a problem, thereby clogging up the reporting box. :/ So sorry.

 

3. Also--sorry this is a problem. :(

[Stacia]

Ok, I've searched & deleted as much as possible for .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, and .bmp. Seemingly, that got me back to sometime in 2010.

 

However, if I search archived posts, I cannot edit or report those? Some do have pictures? What to do in those cases? Are there other earlier posts I need to check?

 

Also, some of my posts were in threads that have been deleted. But, when I search my posts, I can still see those posts with images, but I can't edit them and clicking on them just leads me to a page saying it doesn't exist. The photos are still showing in the search pages though....

 

Please help. Awaiting further instructions....

[FloridaLisa]

I imagine I'm soon out of likes for a period... it really is fun seeing everyone return for a short bit - albeit for a nasty situation.

 

I'd ask how you broke your (junkie) habit of visiting, but I don't particularly want to know... ;)

 

Noooo!  I'm hoping they're back on the wagon now. :D  

 

Come on in! Sit down for a spell.

 

I'm always a bit worried that the boardies who've left have found the key to a great homeschool day is to stay off the computer.  :huh:

 

Lisa

[Scarlett]

I went to 'manage attachments' on my profile page and I had abouit 8 pics...a few of which I deleted....That seemed way too easy....some of you are talking about wading through all of your posts looking for pics....did I do it wrong?

[KidsHappen]

I went through my 40 pages and I didn't find anything that I needed to remove although I did have a "Sexiest Men" thread from a few years ago come down.

 

My avatar is a picture I took of a shirt that I own. I don't know if someone can even own a copyright on the design but the picture itself is my own that I downloaded from my computer so it should be fine. 

 

When posting pictures, I almost always hotlink pictures from online and only download from my own pictures on my own computer and even then it doesn't happen very frequently.

 

It is great to see so many old timers again. How in the world did you all get the news?

 

Susan, so sorry that you are having o go through this mess. I will gladly donate if I need to. Hope this all blows over quickly and quietly and soon. 

[Jane in NC]

I went to 'manage attachments' on my profile page and I had abouit 8 pics...a few of which I deleted....That seemed way too easy....some of you are talking about wading through all of your posts looking for pics....did I do it wrong?

 

Have you added images via cut and paste (not as attachments)?  If no, you are on easy street.

 

Some posters have scores if not hundreds of photos imbedded within posts, again not as attachments.

 

[idnib]

According to the U.S. Copyright office, the following is true:

 

 

 

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, signed into law on October 28, 1998, amended the United States Copyright Act, Title 17 of the U.S. Code, to provide in part certain limitations on the liability of online service providers (OSPs) for copyright infringement. Subsection 512©of the Copyright Act provides limitations on service provider liability for storage, at the direction of a user, of copyrighted material residing on a system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider, if, among other things, the service provider has designated an agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement by providing contact information to the Copyright Office and by posting such information on the service provider’s website in a location accessible to the public. The provision of information to the Copyright Office about the service provider’s designated agent is a condition for reliance on the limitations on liability for service providers.

 

 

IOW, if someone is allowing people to add materials to the site on their own, it is required that they designate an agent for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), specifically section 512, the "Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act" to have some protection. This agent is to be notified by a copyright holder if that copyright holder feels they have been infringed upon. The agent would receive a "takedown notice" from the alleged copyright holder and would then be required to  take the material down "expeditiously" and then notify the user who posted it that it had been taken down. If the user felt the copyright was actually theirs, they could take action as outlined here. Here's an image of a Youtube video for which someone filed a takedown notice.

 

So by providing an agent to receive takedown notices and removing the offending content, web sites protect themselves from the liability of user uploaded content, and the liability falls on the user themselves. More information is on wikipedia and at the copyright office, with information on how to designate an agent and pay the $105 fee.

 

Lastly, my DH, who is fairly knowledgeable about the DMCA due to his profession, wrote this for me to post:

 

-------------------

 

Hi. I'm the husband of "idnib".  Former editor of a

web site.  I Am Not A Lawyer, This Is Not Legal Advice

(IANAL, TINLA).

 

I just wanted to point out couple of useful resources

that the maintainers of this site might be able to

use.

 

 How to Register a DMCA Agent

 http://www.newmediarights.org/guide/copyright/how_register_dmca_agent

 

 Protecting Yourself Against Copyright Claims Based on User Content

 http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/protecting-yourself-against-copyright-claims-based-user-content

 

A site that accepts postings from users is an

"online service provider" for purposes of the law.

Someone who maintains a personal blog or company

site doesn't count, but as soon as someone runs a web

board or mailing list that accepts posts from outside

users, he or she can register a DMCA Agent to receive

notifications when one of the site's users posts some

infringing material.

 

The DMCA notice and takedown system is the reason

that big web sites such as Pinterest can stay in

business despite their hordes of users eagerly posting

copyrighted pictures.

 

Here's how Pinterest handles it:

 http://about.pinterest.com/en/copyright

 

Other web sites that carry user-generated content have

similar pages, clearly linked from their home pages.

If a copyright holder finds an infringing photo on

Pinterest, the copyright holder must send a DMCA

"Notice of Alleged Infringement" including the

specific URLs where the infringing photo can be found.

As long as the site owner follows the steps of the

"notice and takedown" process (covered in the first

two links), the site has substantial protection

that is not available to sites that don't register

a DMCA Agent.

 

If you have any questions, there is free legal help

for "promising ventures and innovative thinkers"

available from the Digital Media Law Project:

 

 http://www.dmlp.org/legal-assistance