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Yellow Pages soliciting images for free.

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sniderscion says:

Yellow Pages group is soliciting images for use in their directories from Flickr users via a user called penega.

Turns out they're not offering compensation and want exclusive universal rights to your image in perpetuity. In other words you send them the image and they can can do whatever they want with it; including selling or licensing it to anyone else while you are left with nothing.

I'm appalled that such a big company wouldn't just license an image for a reasonable rate; even more appalled that the agency they use would scoop up the rights like that.
6:37PM, 11 December 2008 PDT (permalink)

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Rabblefish says:

That is pretty appalling. I guess slapping legal firm/Pizza Pizza ads all over the Yellow pages wasn't raking in enough dough. Is there any sort of legal recourse for that sort of practice? I mean, it's almost as cheesy as that negative option billing scheme Rogers tried to pull a while back.

Thanks for the heads up in any case Scott!
ages ago (permalink)

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VicPhotos says:

Harlan Ellison's advice from this video applies to all creative artists, including photographers.

Giving away your photos for free devalues your work!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

If one wants to show off his/her photos to more people, why not give one's photos to a charitable organization?

Cheers.
Originally posted ages ago. (permalink)
VicPhotos edited this topic ages ago.

fantastic pipe [deleted] says:


If people are stupid enough to agree to give away their rights for nothing but the dubious ego trip of getting published (and a LOT of Flickrites are), there's nothing illegal about it.

Not just your work, it devalues everyone's work.
ages ago (permalink)

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St-Even says:

I had the same offer. I named my price, never heard from them again.

They're not the only ones. I had a request from a company called Urban Strategies that was doing a report for the City. They told me they had no budget for photos but this would put me on their "radar". I declined, and politely reminded them that I retain full rights to my photos. They said they were going to send out an assistant or somebody to take photos instead. The way I see it, if using my photos is contributing to somebody else's paycheque, then I get a piece. Non-profits? I'll even go out and take something original for them. There's giving away and there's sharing. We all benefit when we share, and we all lose when we give it away.
ages ago (permalink)

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Rabblefish says:

cornelius crab: Sheesh. No need for insults. I make my stuff available for non-commercial use. The Yellow Pages group isn't exactly a non-profit organization.

I enjoy sharing my work with others, just as much as I enjoy seeing the work of others. Sure getting some funds for my work would be nice (although it would quickly get absorbed by new gear), but at the same time, I have issues commodifying my work.

Also, protecting intellectual property is one thing, but how much control do you have over your content once it's published on the internet? If you really feel that way, why bother posting anything to sites such as Flickr at all?
Originally posted ages ago. (permalink)
Rabblefish edited this topic ages ago.

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Яick Harris says:

cornelius crab bullshit -- publishing pictures under a CC license is not egotistical.

And exactly how does it "devalue everyone's work"? Is it the availability or abundance of good work that devalues your work? Then make better work.
ages ago (permalink)

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anotherfaceinthecrowd says:

Absolutely ridiculous. I suppose they think that the "exposure" is worth it... idiots.
ages ago (permalink)

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Keith Watson Photography says:

Count me in as nother one contacted. When I saw the paperwork I was pretty much done with them.
ages ago (permalink)

fantastic pipe [deleted] says:

: Where did I say anything about Creative Commons or noncommercial use? This is a for- profit company asking for exclusive rights (which a lot of people don't even like to sell- that's why Magnum and CAPIC were formed) for free.
ages ago (permalink)

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sniderscion says:

They haven't done any followup since the money issue was raised so they must be finding some people willing to give away their work. I don't mind donating something for a worthy cause but these guys are just looking to profit from other people's work which just isn't right.
ages ago (permalink)

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Nilocb says:

it is not just yellow pages i know for a fact that nikon is doing the same thing. and even more appalling is some photo contest are making you pay to enter the contest and taking your rights at the same time, so you are paying them to take your photoyour photographic right from you! it makes me sick!
ages ago (permalink)

fantastic pipe [deleted] says:

This kind of thing (not necessarily with the rights grab - but businesses asking amateurs for free photos) seems fairly common these days, so it must work.
ages ago (permalink)

glistening mine [deleted] says:

The problem is people do it, and they don't realize it degrades everyone's else's work. They have to pay an agency to do this, but they could have just had one of their employees legitimately buy images off some place cheap like istockphoto. Too many are desperate for 'recognition' and that's really the issue. Since I turned off my share settings and don't tag my images this type of BS has totally stopped for me.
Originally posted ages ago. (permalink)
glistening mine edited this topic ages ago.

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MihkelFortey says:

Look closely at ALL contest posting rules - most say that they can use the images later for their purposes.
Everyone should always limit the file sizes they upload to online sharing sites - (pre-size them for web) rather than letting the online uploader re-size them. I think they keep the high-rez files and display the websize.

We should also watermark our uploads!

... I also agree with most comments above :)
ages ago (permalink)

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ezhilinsky says:

I didn't get it - they ask for images to submit or just steal'em from flickr pages?
ages ago (permalink)

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sniderscion says:

They tell you they would like to use your image but do not offer compensation; if you ask for compensation they either say something is in the works or you never hear from them again.
ages ago (permalink)

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