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Screenshots...The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

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Screenshots...The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

from JoeUser Forums
"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"....not talking about screenshots themselves, but just trying to point out up front that this thread could easily go in that direction and I would rather that folks remain civil when posting in this thread about screenshots...Thanks ahead of time

I'm no legal expert....

I am of the opinion that a screenshot is like a photo. Whether it is a picture of your desktop you captured or a picture of a Disney character you took while on vacation, you own the picture, you don't own the content of the picture, if you didn't create it. The artist or copyright holder owns the content of the image. So I believe that you have a responsibility, if you display in public, to present the content in a positive light and if your "picture" doesn't redistribute the artist or copyright holder's original content without consent then it constitutes fair use. How you present that content in your picture is fair game as well, provided that the intent is not to defame or slander the artist or copyright holder. So if I displayed in public a picture I have of let's say Mickey Mouse and alter it so that he's standing there with his knickers around his ankles, then I'd expect that if Disney asked I'd have to remove the picture from the public's view, though Disney can't have the picture because I'm the one who took it with a digital camera then altered it.

I'm not saying that my view is correct, I just posting my viewpoint to get the discussion going so that in the end we all will benefit from having a clearer understanding.
46,403 views 31 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top
When financial damage comes into play, things change.


What if someone values their own emotions and sanity over finances though?
Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Would that be pain and suffering?
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Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think attornies put a pretty nice price on values, sanity and emotions (pain and suffering)
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Good dialog and Brad nails it with respect for each other in the community.
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The analogy that a screenshot is a personal photograph of someone else's art seems to be the most appropriate. It does seem at least reasonable to think that since WC is so big and has such large traffic that the "someone else" might want some control over what they consider to be their art.

Since it is the screenshot section that generates this controversy, I have a suggestion on how both sides of this *debate* could be placated. Why not make the screenshot section only connected to the personal WC pages? In other words, the WC wide library of screenshots goes away, but the ability to upload screenshots does not - at least for those who have setup (and who can setup) personal WC pages. The uploaded screenshots would still be subject to moderation, still available to the public, but not in that way that someone just stumbles upon the particular screenshot. The amount of available space for upload could be determined by WC rank, subscription level or other.

Three things would be afforded by doing this: (1) artists - and the artists representative - can't really object to the screenshots (at least not in the sense of objecting to WC policy), (2) WC is provided some protection - of the legal variety - from copyright infringement claims, and (3) screenshot *spammers* are kept in check.

Just my idea, comments welcomed!
Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
"Murky" seems an appropriate discription.

I think Byron Todd's idea above would be the extreme solution, but if these things escalate with the improved color support in WB and SkinStudio's ability to manipulate skins, it may be a real solution.

The downside (from my point of view) would be that "newbies" of which I still feel a part, would not have the easy access to a gallery that shows some fantastic ideas on how to use all the great skins available at this site.

I know that as a beginner, I am already planning on developing some WB skins which will have color support as a basic option. I am a long way from many of the fine Skinners at this site, but I have to believe that people who might download my skins will want to tweak them as needed to suit their individual tastes.

Perhaps there could be a variety of skins that fit into a "Professional" category, and that WindowBlinds and SkinStudio could be upgraded to recognize these skins and not allow changes?

I am certainly not a "coder", so I don't know if this is viable.

Well, Happy 2005 for now.