Copyright violations

Unfortunately, photographers and other artists are facing copyright violations every day. Many people feel that using images, software or music without paying for it is OK, because “nobody gets hurt and I would not have paid for it anyway”. While the latter may be true, the first part isn’t. Even if using a copy of an image doesn’t mean that the owner can’t use it anymore, it does devaluate the value of photography and so it does hurt. Many times I’ve been asked to supply images for brochures or other commercial purposes, for free. “We don’t have a budget for photography. We will credit you, so other people will see your images and start asking you” is often the excuse. Yeah, right. An those other people want the images for free too… If you think it’s normal not to pay for photography, why would someone else pay for it?

Most people would not steal a car, claiming “I would not have paid for it anyway”. They do understand that stealing something physical is wrong. But why should it be physical before it’s wrong to use it without paying? It’s like the empty seats in buses, trains and planes. As nobody is sitting there, and the bus/train/plane is going anyway, doesn’t that give you the right to take a free ride? Nobody is hurt, right? The only problem is that somebody has to pay for their seat, otherwise there won’t be any public transportation. But that somebody is obviously somebody else…

A French organisation of professional photographers launched a campaign to make the public aware of this problem. I do hope this campaign will open some eyes…