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Pinterest, Ancestry and Copyrighted Images

I was concerned about creating a Pinterest “bulletin board” for an ancestor, and then pinning a census image from Ancestry to that board. Although clicking on that image links back to Ancestry, and although I had cited the image source as Ancestry.com I wasn’t sure if I was violating some sort of term of agreement with Ancestry. I had seen bloggers post an image to a blog, but was this the same at Pinterest?

Then last month Pinterest introduced new code for websites and blogs that want to block the pinning of content from their sites. Obviously some websites must have complained. Is it fair to pin without asking permission or opinions of the originators of that image? I haven’t seen everyone credit their source of an image when they pin to a board. Are people assuming that a click driving traffic back to the original source is enough?

I decided to drop a line to Ancestry’s customer service form online. Three days later they wrote back and referred me to an email address in their media relations department. So, I guess customer service had no clear answer either, just like me.

Another three days later I received a replay from Matthew Deighton at Ancestry stating “I have

forwarded your email to our legal department for review. I want to make sure my answer is fully backed up by our legal team. I should have an answer to you soon.” I guess customer service was not the only person without a clear answer! Matthew didn’t sound very sure either.

Finally! Three weeks after our last email, I heard from Matthew Deighton again. Here is his message:

“I have been working with our legal team concerning this issue. The issue is not rooted in Ancestry.com, but more so the archives where the records were collected. Some agreements allow the use of their images on Facebook and the like. Other agreements forbid the use of their records on other outlets. The issue becomes complicated quickly, but if you see the “Share to Facebook” link on the left side of a document, you should be approved to share that image on other social sites as well.

I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. Working through legal takes a while.”

I took a quick look at my Pinterest boards. I had pinned up US Census records, a copy of a city directory and a naturalization record on a board for my great great grandfather, Professor Caleb Rand Bill. On this board I also had some scanned photos from my own family albums. When I went back to Ancestry to see the Census images I saw the SHARE button at the top with the little Facebook, Twitter and email buttons. Good, it is safe to share the Census images on social sites, and according to Matthew Deighton, this would include Pinterest.

A quick look at Caleb Bill’s naturalization record on Ancestry had the same SHARE button, as well as the image from the 1895 Beverly, Massachusetts City Directory. I hadn’t violated any copyright issues. And I now know what to do in the future when sharing anything from Ancestry.com, and now you know, too!

Click on this link for my first Pinterest blog post

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/02/pinterest-for-genealo...

Would you like to see my Pinterest board for Professor Caleb Rand Bill? Click here:

http://pinterest.com/heatherwrojo/prof-caleb-rand-bill-my-great-great-grandfather/

Pinterest, Ancestry and Copyrighted Images

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