Pinterest Copyright Opt-Out

Posted on February 22, 2012 by timethief

On Monday, February 20th The Official Pinterest blog entry was focused on copyright. Web sites are now able to opt-out of having their images pinned by Pinterest’s users by inserting code into their headers. (It works much the same way robots.txt does in keeping search engine spiders from crawling your site.)

Pinterest, concerned about hapless, unwitting copyright violators and extremely concerned about copyright holders has made things easier for holders to protect themselves against wayward and greedy pinners. They have released code which will allow websites to prevent material from being plastered on the Pinterest social pinboard without regard. The code, accessible through the site’s help page, works this way. An unauthorized pinner will see a message stating, “This site doesn’t allow pinning to Pinterest. Please contact the owner with any questions. Thanks for visiting!” The violating pinner will see this when the code has been added to the copyright holder’s site.

via Pinterest Users Need to Read the Fine Print | Technorati Media.
For more on Pinterest read Why I Don’t Mind Pinterest Hijacking My Links — BlogWorld & New Media Expo Blog.

Also note this article that Jean brought to my attention. “Some people have 30 or 40 boards, 900 pins, 600 likes. . . . They’re just going crazy,” says Karl Kovacs, a social media expert from Edmonton. — Could Pinterest play lead to virtual hoarding? Pintervention, anyone?

37 thoughts on “Pinterest Copyright Opt-Out”

Pingback: Pinterest Updated Terms of Service | one cool site
shiborigirl on March 1, 2012 at 7:11 pm said:

i wasn’t making myself clear- sorry. not looking for that. thanks-

Reply ↓
- shiborigirl on March 1, 2012 at 7:33 pm said:
  
  i should have said “pinterest-free” theme. a theme that is pinterest-proof. just dreaming…
  
  Reply ↓
  - timethief on March 2, 2012 at 5:12 pm said:
    
    Oh no!
    I completely misunderstood you. You meant pin protection and I’m sure you aren’t alone in wanting that.
    
    Reply ↓
    - shiborigirl on March 2, 2012 at 6:55 pm said:
      
      exactly!
- timethief on March 2, 2012 at 5:12 pm said:
  
  gottcha – see my reply
  
  Reply ↓
shiborigirl on March 1, 2012 at 11:52 am said:

maybe someone can create a pinterest free theme for Wp.com users…
or maybe i’m dreaming…

Reply ↓
- timethief on March 1, 2012 at 6:51 pm said:
  
  if that’s your thing, any theme can be turned into a pinboard. Use your imagination.
  http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/clean-home/
  
  Reply ↓
Cyndi the BookChick on February 27, 2012 at 7:50 pm said:

Thanks again for your quick response to my question on the forums about this issue. I am hoping that WordPress will give us an opt out option at some point.
I really dislike Pintrest….

Reply ↓
- timethief on February 28, 2012 at 3:35 pm said:
  
  You’re welcome and know that you aren’t alone.
  
  Reply ↓
Joanna on February 26, 2012 at 4:36 pm said:

Hi TiTi, Thank you for clarifying this. I was wondering if WordPress were going to give us the option to include this code in our blogs, but it doesn’t look like it at the present from what you write here. I meant to ask if you had covered the Google Privacy Changes coming in 1st March as I was interested to know what you thought about it. I don’t know what to think anymore, best always, Joanna

Reply ↓
- timethief on February 26, 2012 at 7:04 pm said:
  
  Hi Joanna,
  No we won’t be able top use the no pinning Pinterest code on WordPress.com blogs. I’ve been over the Google privacy policy and don’t feel alarmed about it. I’m exhausted by trying to keep up with it all, if you know what I mean. :)
  Bests wishes
  
  Reply ↓
Jenn on February 26, 2012 at 2:30 pm said:

Good info. Thanks.

Reply ↓
- timethief on February 26, 2012 at 4:07 pm said:
  
  Thanks.
  
  Reply ↓
Joni on February 25, 2012 at 6:50 am said:

I appreciate your content on issues of blogging and how to navigate using the web. I was wondering what you thoughts were on web browsers and the privacy issues?

Good to have your visit and “like”…

Reply ↓
- timethief on February 25, 2012 at 8:07 am said:
  
  Hi Joni
  Hello there and thanks for your visit. It’s interesting that you brought up browser privacy issues. Have you read this article? http://www.slashgear.com/control-your-web-browser-privacy-in-five-easy-steps-24215178/
  
  Reply ↓
  - Joni on February 25, 2012 at 1:09 pm said:
    
    Thanks, I hadn’t seen this but it’s the kind of information I needed! My Best…
    
    Reply ↓
    - timethief on February 25, 2012 at 4:30 pm said:
      
      Good to know that I posted a link to what you needed to read.
Mark Armstrong on February 23, 2012 at 6:45 pm said:

I can see the headline on some future poll now: 99.9% Of Pinterest Images Ripped Off From WordPress.com Bloggers Who Can’t Protect Their Content. Wonderful.

I like your new psychedelic theme here: Blog Free Or Tie-Dye!! : )

Reply ↓
- timethief on February 23, 2012 at 6:51 pm said:
  
  Precisely.
  
  P.S. Thanks for the theme comment. I’m energized by color and was having a bit of fun.
  
  Reply ↓
  - Jenn on February 26, 2012 at 2:27 pm said:
    
    Love it. The design & colors remind me of Spin Art and Spirographs I had when I was a kid. Esp. the latter.
    
    Reply ↓
    - timethief on February 26, 2012 at 4:08 pm said:
      
      I take it that you are referring to the header. Thanks.
    - Jenn on February 26, 2012 at 4:28 pm said:
      
      Yes. Thoughts without typing them out don’t follow too well, do they?
Wayne on February 23, 2012 at 6:00 pm said:

I really am not concerned about their ‘hoarding.’ Rather, I am concerned about what no one seems to be reading in the fine print ….

Let’s say you use free images from the web (wiki even) …. then someone pins that or borrows it to another web site and it is pinned from there.

Pinterest will hold YOU liable for what it should cost them to use the content (not just images).

So, they can TAKE your data, words, or images, and resell them.

You are left ‘holding the bag’ for their indebtedness. Naturally, a good lawyer would cut through that.

But, that would cost you more than it would cost their lawyers ….

thanks!

wayne

Reply ↓
- timethief on February 23, 2012 at 6:53 pm said:
  
  What an interesting take on the situation. The Pinterst is becoming more and more popular and who knows what the future may hold?
  
  Reply ↓
- eksith on February 24, 2012 at 2:22 am said:
  
  @Wayne
  
  In that regard, it’s no different than a search engine. I was browsing around and this seems more and more like one giant user-contributed search engine.
  
  And as we know, search engines aren’t held liable for what gets indexed as long as they remove offending content quickly. It shouldn’t “cost” them anything to simply make content unavailable upon DMCA or other such notification. Pinterest can claim that they’re not responsible for what gets pinned and they don’t constantly monitor etc… etc… We don’t accuse Google for “taking” our data when they show content summaries, images and screenshots of our sites.
  
  Reply ↓
  - timethief on February 24, 2012 at 8:45 am said:
    
    Thanks for wading in here and sharing your take on this. I appreciate it.
    
    Reply ↓
- xanthuskidd on February 29, 2012 at 2:19 pm said:
  
  Nice article TT!
  
  Reply ↓
  - timethief on February 29, 2012 at 8:36 pm said:
    
    Thanks so much for that link. This is so important and I’m sure most Pinterest members aren’t clear on what the ToS is stating.
    
    Reply ↓
eksith on February 23, 2012 at 1:36 pm said:

Until I read this post, I haven’t even heard of Pinterest.
Holy cow, it’s a giant flying dashboard!

Thanks for sharing this.

Reply ↓
- timethief on February 23, 2012 at 2:00 pm said:
  
  You’re welcome. You can read more about it here if you like Have you heard about Pinterest?
  
  Reply ↓
zobop republic on February 23, 2012 at 9:59 am said:

Now it’s Pinterest, what next? I can’t keep up with all this social networking. Too much hoarding.

Reply ↓
- timethief on February 23, 2012 at 2:03 pm said:
  
  Hi there,
  Long time no connect. I’m not into hoarding images that belong others either. You can insert the code into your header. We WordPress.com users cannot access meta data and insert any code, as this is a multiuser blogging platform where all blogs wearing the same theme are using the same underlying template.
  
  Reply ↓
Julie on February 23, 2012 at 7:48 am said:

Hmmm….does adding their “code” in some way benefit Pinterest? And, yes, what a cop out!

Reply ↓
- timethief on February 23, 2012 at 8:18 am said:
  
  No. The idea is that those who can access their meta data, which by the way WordPress.com bloggers can’t do, will place the code in their headers to prevent their images from being pinned.
  
  Reply ↓
  - Jenn on February 26, 2012 at 2:43 pm said:
    
    Shame we can’t protect ourselves. However, I’ve read through your post & comments and will be heading over to Pinterest to opt out of using it. Had concerns about it anyway. Go there fairly rarely, so it’s “good bye” now. Thanks.
    
    Reply ↓
    - timethief on February 26, 2012 at 4:07 pm said:
      
      The Pinterest issues are so irksome. The silence of the Pinterest site when it comes to the SkimLinks affilliate linking scheme caught my attention. There is no disclosue as is expected under the FTC.