There has been a lot of talk recently about who owns your content once you post it online. The discussion has mostly directed toward social media and the social media sites. The discussion has been centered around whether you still on the content or of the social networking platform (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, etc.) owns the content.
I just read an article about a family that discovered their Christmas card photo ended up in a billboard campaign in Czech. Kind of crazy, right? Well, if you really think about it is not that far fetched.
The social networking platforms are pushing to have the rights to your content to use it how they see fit. If that is the case, it means they can use your photos throughout their sites and to promote their sites in advertisements, which could appear other places online. Now, in many cases someone could lift the image used from the ad very easily. Simply, right click and select “save as”. They could then use it however they want. They could even sell it as their own. Another scenario is if sites like Facebook start selling the images themselves. They are after all looking for new ways to create revenue.
There is also another thing to think about. What if it that happened to one of the drunken photos people so often post online. I guess part of the lesson is anything online can never be 100% secure. So, be careful what you post online.
In any case the family with the picture in Czech hasn’t discovered yet how their picture made it across the ocean. It will be interesting to see what they find out. Check out the article to learn more. Mo. family Christmas photo turns up in Czech ad
