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Steven Clark
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8 months ago
in Lizzer: A Copyright/Hotlinking Disaster on Plagiarism Today
Hi Jonathon, I had such a problem with my old links blog Pig Pen and Myspacers hotlinking to images that I ended up first feeding them advertisements, and then when it got too time consuming I just closed the site and deleted the database.
Google Image Search has a lot to answer for.
I did want to mention my other concern. While doing subcontract web design / template work a few months ago the organisation who contracted me almost demanded that I just get free images off Flickr. Whereas I usually would use iStockphoto, or my own stock photography collection that I take myself.
This same demand came very early in the year from a multinational corporation as well.
Now my concern with Flickr. Does someone necessarily ( I don't mean legally, but morally ) understand that they are making these images available to be used? I'm of the opinion that regardless of what they are tagged on Flickr the majority of users are not super clued into tech, law or even common sense. For example, look at the number of family / children photos, or crowd shots of people. or any number of images that would both surprise and outrage someone if they turned up in a Coke ad or a Cigarette commercial or on someone elses desktop or private collection.
My concern is that people, being unaware to a great extent, have made available all these private images without "wanting" them to be displayed, used or ogled over. Ignorance I admit, but this is essentially a non-tech world.
So, I just won't use images that are out there for "free" because I am very aware that the vast majority weren't explicitly put there for people to use. They just chose Flickr to upload images, didn't read the fine print and hey their 3 year old is being viewed by old men in Russia.
I have also been a Google Images victim on numerous occasions, although by deleting my old blogs and starting again it's improved.
Interesting article. I'd like these tools to clearly find ways to ensure that only images "intended for reuse" are shown, as opposed to just legally available.
Google Image Search has a lot to answer for.
I did want to mention my other concern. While doing subcontract web design / template work a few months ago the organisation who contracted me almost demanded that I just get free images off Flickr. Whereas I usually would use iStockphoto, or my own stock photography collection that I take myself.
This same demand came very early in the year from a multinational corporation as well.
Now my concern with Flickr. Does someone necessarily ( I don't mean legally, but morally ) understand that they are making these images available to be used? I'm of the opinion that regardless of what they are tagged on Flickr the majority of users are not super clued into tech, law or even common sense. For example, look at the number of family / children photos, or crowd shots of people. or any number of images that would both surprise and outrage someone if they turned up in a Coke ad or a Cigarette commercial or on someone elses desktop or private collection.
My concern is that people, being unaware to a great extent, have made available all these private images without "wanting" them to be displayed, used or ogled over. Ignorance I admit, but this is essentially a non-tech world.
So, I just won't use images that are out there for "free" because I am very aware that the vast majority weren't explicitly put there for people to use. They just chose Flickr to upload images, didn't read the fine print and hey their 3 year old is being viewed by old men in Russia.
I have also been a Google Images victim on numerous occasions, although by deleting my old blogs and starting again it's improved.
Interesting article. I'd like these tools to clearly find ways to ensure that only images "intended for reuse" are shown, as opposed to just legally available.
1 reply
8 months ago
in Creative Commons Adds Deed Seal on Plagiarism Today
Yes I have to agree sadly. The international full fee paying student economy seems to have, in many schools, paved the way for this issue to proliferate.
My sister, who works at a catholic university in Queensland, attended a cultural awareness course. She said many Koreans / Chinese for example believe that plagiarism is a mark of respect. They culturally believe that using your work is an honour to you. I find this in a Korean student on my software project for 3rd year - filching at all costs. And they don't accept criticism, he threatened to kill me for criticising him earlier in the semester (which is a concern).
IMO we wonder why the software industry has gone to crap - we need to make that mark at the root of the problem. This guy, for example, has used other people's work for an entire degree by filching code and templates and designs. Academically WTF?
It would be nice to see some kind of proactive effort put towards the academic sector. But I'm probably dreaming (after a bottle of shiraz and an exhibition opening).
Anyway, how have you been going? Appears your doing well.
My sister, who works at a catholic university in Queensland, attended a cultural awareness course. She said many Koreans / Chinese for example believe that plagiarism is a mark of respect. They culturally believe that using your work is an honour to you. I find this in a Korean student on my software project for 3rd year - filching at all costs. And they don't accept criticism, he threatened to kill me for criticising him earlier in the semester (which is a concern).
IMO we wonder why the software industry has gone to crap - we need to make that mark at the root of the problem. This guy, for example, has used other people's work for an entire degree by filching code and templates and designs. Academically WTF?
It would be nice to see some kind of proactive effort put towards the academic sector. But I'm probably dreaming (after a bottle of shiraz and an exhibition opening).
Anyway, how have you been going? Appears your doing well.
1 reply
Jonathan Bailey
It is interesting that the problem you mention existed in a software-related field. The reason being that plagiarism there often leads to copyright infringement lawsuits and firings. Plagiarizing an office memo is far less likely to get you in trouble than plagiarizing your software code.
The cultural differences are staggering and it is a part of the reason why respectable countries such as Korea, India and China have struggled on the international science scene. They have a reputation for unoriginal work and, even though most of their scientists/programmers/etc do their own work they can't escape the cloud of suspicion.
The problem in academia, as you pointed out, is that if you do not write your own papers/code the teachers have no means to effectively grade your progress or your knowledge. They can't help you if you are struggling or fail you if you don't meet the requirements.
Anyway, I've been doing well, Halloween is a bit of a crazy month for me due to Halloween activities, but I'm getting by.
Hope that you're doing well!
The cultural differences are staggering and it is a part of the reason why respectable countries such as Korea, India and China have struggled on the international science scene. They have a reputation for unoriginal work and, even though most of their scientists/programmers/etc do their own work they can't escape the cloud of suspicion.
The problem in academia, as you pointed out, is that if you do not write your own papers/code the teachers have no means to effectively grade your progress or your knowledge. They can't help you if you are struggling or fail you if you don't meet the requirements.
Anyway, I've been doing well, Halloween is a bit of a crazy month for me due to Halloween activities, but I'm getting by.
Hope that you're doing well!
9 months ago
in Creative Commons Adds Deed Seal on Plagiarism Today
Hi Jonathon
Long time no comment, I've been waylaid with uni and work. Good to see you're going stronger every time I've come by though. I tend to reference people over this way whenever the issues arise though. I'm amazed how many people (especially at universities) think that free means they can say they did it and not attribute the authors / creators / legal copyright owners.
It would be good to see some kind of base level program out there explaining to students that plagiarism and theft don't just apply to an assignment at university. It's been a very frustrating year for battling that mental paradigm in people. Their first reactioin is usually just to try and hide the evidence and scrape the obvious code identifiers away.
Any ideas on how this could be proactively pursued. Education is key to at least letting people know its wrong and they will probably be caught, if not now then eventually.
Long time no comment, I've been waylaid with uni and work. Good to see you're going stronger every time I've come by though. I tend to reference people over this way whenever the issues arise though. I'm amazed how many people (especially at universities) think that free means they can say they did it and not attribute the authors / creators / legal copyright owners.
It would be good to see some kind of base level program out there explaining to students that plagiarism and theft don't just apply to an assignment at university. It's been a very frustrating year for battling that mental paradigm in people. Their first reactioin is usually just to try and hide the evidence and scrape the obvious code identifiers away.
Any ideas on how this could be proactively pursued. Education is key to at least letting people know its wrong and they will probably be caught, if not now then eventually.
1 reply
Jonathan Bailey
One thing I've learned on the university level is that most of the anti-plagiarism steps come out of a fear of a loss of reputation. If a school earns a rep for being easy on plagiarism, that hurts its reputation and harms the money stream from every angle.
Schools need to realize that it isn't just academic plagiarism that hurts their reputation. Think of what Kaavya Viswanathan did for Harvard. If schools are to broaden their plagiarism curriculum, they need to see how plagiarism outside the walls can hurt them.
Sadly, academia is motivated purely by selfish interests these days. The idea of actually teaching students knowledge seems to be a distant second.
Sorry that I can't help more.
Schools need to realize that it isn't just academic plagiarism that hurts their reputation. Think of what Kaavya Viswanathan did for Harvard. If schools are to broaden their plagiarism curriculum, they need to see how plagiarism outside the walls can hurt them.
Sadly, academia is motivated purely by selfish interests these days. The idea of actually teaching students knowledge seems to be a distant second.
Sorry that I can't help more.
Forgetting the legalities for a second, I agree that it is ethically wrong to use a legal loophole to take advantage of people's confusion. However, there is a fine line between someone who is legitimately confused and merely stupid.
For example, if someone posts an image to Flickr, is it wrong for me to link to it? They might not have known it would be available to the world and wanted it to be kept private. However, if that is the case, they should have set their account to private or the image to friends only. Flickr provides tools and controls to help with that. Just because someone didn't think through every consequence of their action does not mean it is my responsibility to ensure that they never suffer any ill effects from it. If that were the case, then the whole Web breaks down.
Personally, I realize that the Flickr API is insanely confusing so I don't use images from it. That is, unless, it has been clearly marked with a Creative Commons License for such use. The user has to reach in and change that themselves. That is a deliberate action to set that flag.
Do some people not realize what it means to CC license a photo? Sure. Ask Virgin Mobile about that, But when you license an image it is your responsibility to research what you are doing, not the person on the other end who is following the terms of the license.
All in all, I think it is unwise for a company with deep pockets and a big budget to use Flickr. Not only is it unnecessary, but it can lead to court dramas and a damaged reputation. I don't encourage the behavior myself, especially with mainstream stock photos being so cheap.
That being said, there are dangers with iStockPhoto as well, I know many artists who have had their works ripped off and sold there, forcing them to file DMCA notices with the service.
Nothing is 100% safe I am sad to say.
Thank you for the food for thought!