DISQUS

I think there are two different camps here, the private people who use Facebook for fun, family and community - and the professional people such as artists who use Facebook to showcase their work and make networking connections. Private people don't usually care about who claims ownership of their stuff when they upload it, they don't loose anything and their perfectly happy to share whatever they upload. And that's fine.

Professional's have DEEP concern about copyright issues, most pro artists DON'T behave the way other's do, we don't download music & movies illegally and we don't assume everything on the internet is free. We have an understanding of copyright laws and what it actually means to spend hours, days and months to create something original and have it stolen from you by people who don't give you any credit and in a way that doesn't benefit you financially. The mind-set that "everything on the internet is free use, and if you don't like it, don't upload shit and don't complain if someone steals your stuff" is completely retarded; although I can understand it (it's very easy to assume something doesn't matter if it doesn't affect you). However if you just take a moment and actually imagine what the internet would be like if artists of all kinds decided to take on that advice, and didn't upload anything they weren't willing to give away for free… what would the internet actually be like?

Would you be able to enjoy looking at amazing artwork on websites like DeviantArt, or ConceptArts, or CGSociety, would you be able to learn for free directly from the masters you admire through the work they share on sites like that? Would you be able to hop through MySpace profiles listening to music from fringe, indie and alternative bands, finding new favorites? Would you be able to enjoy all kinds of content on YouTube, put there by pro’s who want to reach new audiences?

No, you’d have to buy the books, DVD’s, CD’s or simply never, ever be exposed to it.

I’m old enough o remember what it was like before the internet, and to look at something that interested me I’d have to watch TV, go to the library or buy magazines… and even then I had an extremely limited selection. Now, I have an unlimited mind-boggling access to the entire world, I learn something new everyday, I see something amazing everyday.

The internet is an incredible tool for learning and discovering new things, seeing amazing things you’d never otherwise see. But if you treat it with disrespect as if it’s some right that you can shit all over and the people who provide all of that amazing content should just suck it up and be grateful to you…. It will eventually go away. Artists are already pulling their work from public venues; artwork is now being covered by big ugly watermarks that stop you really being able to look at it, all because of the attitude “if it’s on the internet, it’s free”.

I really wish that those of you who think like this, and who respond that the only solution for people who “whine” about copyright, and their work being stolen is for them to “not upload” what they want to keep would think about what their actually saying, and how unreasonable their being. If no one who created things uploaded them, can you imagine how boring the internet would be? And what about people who are trying to get jobs and become “known” in their fields? What opportunity will they have if they can’t upload their work to showcase to prospective employers? I often speak about artwork because I’m directly in that world, and you who aren’t have no frikken CLUE how hard it is to be noticed and become successful… if it wasn’t for being able to have galleries online, most artists would struggle to be “discovered”.

I really wish that people would think about the implications of a situation beyond how it affects them and actually give a damn. There isn’t anything wrong with caring, and doing something about what you care about IS valuable and it DOES change things. The apathetic stupid attitude of “doesn’t affect me, I don’t care” is destroying so many things, that saying is very true, and I wish people would have the integrity and determination to care about things around them, no matter how it affects them – ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”

6 days it had that jar on it's head. 6 days they had been tracking it. Are they seriously saying that in 6 days no one thought to contact the MN Zoo and ask to borrow their tranq gun? How hard would it be REALLY to have had that bear tranqed by day 2 and that plastic jar cut off its head?

Ridiculous, wasteful, arrogant and very very sad.