Having manners doesn't cost anything

On Wednesday, I received two candidate mailers--Commissioner Christopher McVoy's and Omari Hardy's. Both had nice photographs and both photographs are mine.

The campaign of Christopher McVoy called me to let me know that Chris liked my photo taken at John Prince Park and asked if he could use it on a political mailer. Of course, I said "yes." If you ever notice Commissioner McVoy on the dais, he is always polite and respectful.

Omari Hardy, on the other hand, used a photo I had taken of him at City Hall that was used on a mailer sent by the Professional Firefighters/Paramedics of Palm Beach County Local 2928, Inc. No one called me. No one asked for my permission. It was grabbed right off my blog.  Although the photo was taken in a public place and no permission is necessary by the subject, Mr. Hardy, for me to shoot it, he still did not object to my taking the photo. He was giving his consent for me to 1) take it and 2) to publish it. Normally it is sufficient that when using someone's published photo that appropriate consent is given...it wasn't when my photo appeared on this mailer. A simple phone call would have sufficed.

Omari Hardy's mentor, Scott Maxwell, did the same thing in 2016--grabbed a photo right off my blog without saying "boo," "thank you," or "kiss my @#$."

I asked AJ O'Laughlin of the union how he had acquired the photo. He wouldn't tell me. He suggested that I was supporting someone else and I told him that had nothing to do with it, that it was my property. "See you in court," he said. Mr. O'Laughlin, who describes himself as a "simple fireman" says he will not have any discussion with me on this without an attorney present. At that I ended the discussion.

Some people in positions of power don't get it nor do they care about common courtesy.

Scott Maxwell - Campaign Flyer

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 Photo of 3-1-2011

I, too, believe this captures his essence--

It's the "Oh really...You can't be serious" look.

Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell must like my photo. He used it on his campaign literature.

It is standard, when using graphics or photography, that you have permission to use someone's property unless some other arrangement has been made. It's just common courtesy if nothing else. As this blog is copyrighted, it makes it even more curious to me how someone as savvy as Maxwell wouldn't know that.

It simply shows what I have been saying for years--this commission does not care about the people, and our city belongs to all of us--it's not their personal kingdom to do what they please, whenever they please.

Copyright protection policies are getting tougher

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by GoldenCrescentstone

Internet sites and blogs are cracking down more and more on copyright.  It used to be that you could take a snippit from a blog or something from the Internet and re-post it as long as you gave credit to the writer along with a link to the entire article, something the bully blogger never does when he copies from my blog even though I have asked him to do so. If you were using it for commercial purposes, it was forbidden--that was stealing. Some photos were fair game as well.

I even had the PBPost tell me that my graphic using KKK figures to represent three city commissioners hauling off Commissioner Ryan Maier to be hung was in the public realm. The Post must have checked with their lawyers as it soon came off their video. They used it without my permission and they are a commercial enterprise.

My favorite Internet site has now incorporated a copyright policy that will charge for certain uses. Even e-mailing the article to more than 5 recipients will cost you at this unnamed site. Their don'ts that appeared in a pop-up are:

Copyright Don'ts

• Don't use your browser to copy and paste copyrighted content for commercial purposes. In most cases it is illegal.
• Don't accept files and documents of copyrighted content from others who have not obtained permission to send you the content.
• Don't believe that using copyrighted content without permission does not hurt the livelihoods of the people who create content. Piracy costs creators and their publishers billions of dollars each year.
• Don't buy the "I am using it for the public good" argument. That is a weak justification for infringement and sends the wrong message to students and employees.
• Don't infringe copyrighted content. Getting caught is expensive and embarrassing.
• Don't think copyright is capricious and unenforceable. The laws and principles are clear and they exist to protect content consumers as well as creators.

So, perhaps all of us who write a blog or post on social media will be more conscientious about using even a line of someone's work as well as some using Facebook who have grabbed a photo or two belonging to someone else and never giving credit whether it is for commercial purposes or not.  This tighter policy may change the face of all blogs and users of Facebook over time but it will be difficult if not impossible to enforce. "Cutting and pasting copyrighted content and then posting it on the web or distributing it to others in any form, except for certain 'fair uses', requires permission from the publisher."

I am not entirely sure where we legally stand if we are just using snippits for personal use with no monetary gain as a result.