Picture Pirate! YYaaaaaaarrrrrrr!!!

Well... some of my images that I sent up to Flickr violated the TOS there and I got a nasty gram from the folks there because some of my images violated another person's copyright.

Acckkkk!! Never my intention! Thus I quickly scrambled in a mad panic to remove everything from my flickr account!!

Then... I did some thinking.

All the images that I got I have gathered from the web, for free. Most, if not all, of the images that I collect have been taken from newsgroups, of which someone else has taken from another site and then uploaded to the newsgroup. And many, if not most, are 5 years old, or older! Many are 10 years old! It's not as if the original photographer and the like have not had time to profit from these images.

Anyway, I have not altered any of the images. I do not do like many and crop out the copyright and/or the artists 'signatures'. Indeed, I very very rarely rename the images (beyond the adding numerical date at times to those that are just called "010" and the like).

Looking at the other accounts in flickr, I noticed that I was not the only person putting up images that were taken from the internet and made into collections of favorites. FAR from it!! Indeed, most of the groups that I have seen there, are exactly that! Now, I am not saying that there are NOT those that ONLY put up those images that they have taken themselves of bugs and planes and kids and dogs and the like. But, the time that I took pictures was over 20 years ago, before digital photography, thus my pictures are hard and stuck in boxes and books. So, I am not unique in this regards.

Anyway, these are things that I like. And, why should they sit in my computer collecting digital dust when I can share them with others, like yourselves??

I am not making any money on any of these. I am not claiming any of these to be mine, to be owned by myself or my associates or my webpage. No, these are just images that I think are cool and/or hot, if you catch my drift. None, at this moment, are pornographic, though many are very sexy and erotic. Most of you know how I feel about taking images and putting them elsewhere and making claims of ownership. I know that nothing here did not come about with lots of time and energy and creativity, not of my own. I give full credit to those that have spend such and these images, and thank them, as well as those that have taken the images and put them up on the internet, from where I gathered them up for my own personal collections and enjoyments!

Is what I am doing that terribly ... wrong??

So, grab what you can, while you can. Soon I will be making some setting changes so that most of my images will only be able to be viewed by flickr members, as well as "contacts" and "friends" of mine!

Who knows, my account may get yanked soon as I have already made one "violation" and subsequent violations can be grounds for immediate termination!

And, if that happens.... I will just try again!

Yaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

(Originally posted July 26th, 2007 on Yahoo 360)