Picture sharing network Pinterest offers opt-out to copyright holders

The social networking website Pinterest seems to be a rising star online at this moment. However, copyright concerns are raised regarding the way images are displayed on the site. Critics say that some of the “pins” are published without a proper citation or reference to the original source of the image.  This may violate copyrights.

Now, Pinterest provides an opt-out tool, whereby website owners can add a code to specific pages of their website indicating that Pinterest users are not allowed to “pin” images from these pages to Pinterest. Users will see a banner with “This site doesn't allow pinning to Pinterest. Please contact the owner with any questions. Thanks for visiting!"

Pinterest is an online platform where users can add images to a personal pinboard. Users can add images to a board by using the “Pin-it button”, which tool can be downloaded on the website, or users can add images by uploading them from their own computer. This way, users can show their friends what kind of things they like. Most pinboards are reflecting fashion ideas or other lifestyle trends. Pinterest also allows its users to “repin” images of others to their own board. The user who first pinned the image will also get credit, and the repins maintain the source-link of the image. Content of Pinterest is also shared on more established social websites, such as Facebook.

Despite the success of Pinterest, critics state that the platform may infringe copyright. For example, due to pinning and repinning the original artists’ composition might get lost in the mix, whereby the original sources are difficult to retrace. Pinterest tries to prevent this by prescribing in their Pin Etiquette that users should properly source “pins” and help others to proper citation: “Pins are the most useful when they have links back to the original source. If you notice that a pin is not sourced correctly, leave a comment so the original pinner can update the source.”. Also Pinterest provides copyright owners a tool where they can report copyright infringement by filling out a DMCA Notice of Alleged Infringement form and sending it to Pinterest. 

Now, with the new opt-out tool Pinterest try’s to prevent copyright infringement more. However, it is questionable whether this opt-out tool, provided by Pinterest, can actually prevent copyright infringement. The opt-out option does not prevent Pinterest users of copying and downloading an image to their computer and uploading it to Pinterest.  But at least it offers the creative sector a means of digital rights management.

References : Digitaltrends.com here and here,  CNET

By: Deniece Teterissa