Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Day two

As I develop my online voice, I admit I am getting to feel like a bit of a blog stalker. I discovered this great blog "synch-ro-ni-zing" by Ruth that is so beautiful and soulful that I then started following another of her sites "huffing." Then I was interested in other blogs she listed so I went over to her brother Rauf's site which is equally mesmerizing and so I added that to my "I read..." list. Is this okay? I feel like I am invading their privacy somehow. And this brings up another web-lemma (Web dilemma) - is it okay to publish photos one takes of other people without their permission? It's not like I am a news agency but I also just joined Facebook and am uploading my family pictures and had that thought - that I am revealing these private moments in a public way - do I have an obligation to clear that with each person?

3 comments:

  1. Hi, Karin. Thank you so much for the nice things you said about synch-ro-ni-zing as well as my brother rauf's blog.

    You have a beautiful site here, simple and artistic.

    I've been blogging 3 years, and rauf a year longer than that. My sense is that you can link people's blog posts without any permission. As for photos, both rauf and I (I learned this from him, and let me tell you it's pretty rare - most people have copyrighted their photos and want you to ask permission) are fine with people using our photographs. It's nice if you can reference whose photo it is.

    Sometimes, as with my post about the inauguration, I "borrowed" the photos from Vanity Fair, but I said where I got them. But I don't use any photos I find online unless they are in major magazines and newspapers and I attribute the photographer. So for instance, I don't post a photo of a fellow blogger. But I would consider doing that with their permission. This is not official etiquette, but it's what I've seen commonly done in the blogging community.

    I think with pics of people you know, you should ask their permission before publishing them online.

    Best wishes with your new blog!

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  2. Let me tell you an example, Karin. For several months I "borrowed" a beautiful lotus design I found online, for my profile icon. After talking with blog friends about attribution, I felt I shouldn't use someone else's design, since I couldn't ask their permission. So I changed my profile pic to a tree I myself took the photo of.

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  3. Thanks for your viewpoint, Ruth. It is very much in keeping with my thoughts on the subject. As I discuss this with my daughter, we have agreed that publishing photos of people here on my public blog carries some requirement to clear it with the subject while publishing the same picture on Facebook or another membership-type sites is slightly different. There are other safeguards of privacy and permission that provide assurances that people aren't exposed in a public forum and can retract their identity if desired.

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