A call to review forum guidelines on posting photos

[Herbert]

Could I suggest that it is timely that a review be made on ATDB guidelines re posting photos?

I believe the onus should be put on the member making a post to ensure that they have gone to reasonable lengths to ensure they have permission to post said photos.

Put simply, if the photos are not yours and you have not gained permission from the photographer to use them, then unfortunately that means you can't post them.

I am not swayed by the argumentation of some that this will mean other forum users will "miss out". On the contrary, the (admittedly often innocent) actions in the past of people reproducing other peoples "art work" (its legal definition) has meant that a number of photographers have chosen not to share their photos. This ultimately means that less is seen, particularly of historical photos, rather than more.

[jb17kx]

It has always been my understanding that the person introducing any content to a public medium, such as this board, is responsible for ensuring that they are legally able to do so.

Unfortunately, theirs is not sole responsibility, and as such the owners/administrators/moderators of the medium concerned - such as a web site - can be prosecuted for not acting to remove offending content.

This means, as it always has, that if one has not taken the photograph nor obtained permission from its creator (and/or the copyright holder), one may not publish it here. If an administrator or moderator notices or is informed of a discrepancy in permissions, then they are obliged to remove the image/s until the situation can be clarified.

I therefore can't see a need for a review because I have always understood that this was the case here as is everywhere (except that some sites do not accept photos that are not taken by the poster, no ifs or buts).

If this thread has been prompted by a recent posting of Renaults from a collection without the securing of appropriate permissions, then the OP was in breach (for whatever reasons, mind, and quite possibly forgivably) of both the law and board guidelines. It could be that this was entirely accidental, but in any case the moderators acted promptly and properly when they were made aware of the issue with the photo rights. It may however need to be pointed out to users that they must be unshakeably positive about their holding of appropriate rights and/or permissions before posting photos.

[Member1100]

Surely you need a punishment that will discourage people from posting other peoples pics without permission. If anybody is found to have done so, ban them for a week. That oughta get the message in.

[Ken]

Put simply, if the photos are not yours and you have not gained permission from the photographer to use them, then unfortunately that means you can't post them.

The administrators abide by this very reasonable guideline, even though it may not be currently defined in the official guidelines of this forum.

To restate the above: If you obtain photographs taken by another enthusiast then you should not post them on this forum unless you have gained permission from them to do so.

If someone has posted photos on this forum or on their own website then you can not re-post such photos on this forum unless you have their permission.

Some users are more than willing for their photos to be posted (provided you acknowledge them as the photographer), while others are not. Some people may think this harsh, but the person took the photos has the right to say if they want them shown on this forum or not.

Obviously photos/videos posted on sites such as Youtube are exempt from this as the purpose of posting media on that site is to publicly promote it as much as possible.

The recent such issue of a user posting some Renault photos was a simple misunderstanding. The user had borrowed some printed photographs from me for the purpose of scanning them. I was happy for him to post the photos that were taken by me, but he did not realise that some of the photos were taken by another person who did not wish them posted on this forum.

If any user notices their photos being posted without their permission simply click the 'Report this Post' icon which should appear at either the top or bottom of each post.