Will #Pinterest be the next Megaupload ?
Pinterest is one the fastest-growing social network ever. Everyone is currently talking about on blogs and tweets. On my own, I l-o-v-e it (see my board about w2).
It's so cute, so easy to "pin" any picture or video on aboard, and share it with friends or unknown people.
Pinterest is a mix between Flickr, Delicious and YouTube, with a slice of Twitter.
More and more people are convinced, especially women.
But wait... by pinning on my board a video I've liked , am I violating copyright rules ? Well... I think so, and many layers seem to think so.
Pinterest developers have designed a small opt-out script enabling webmasters to prevent their content from being "pinned". But it's just like if an anti-theft manufacturer said "if you don't put my anti-theft alarm on your car, you accept being robbed".
Many content pined on Pinterest boards are professional pictures, infographics or videos, of course protected by copyrights. In most of the case, owners appreciate being pined, because it generates traffic to their site. But for how long ?
I'm sure legal procedure for copyright infrigement will be soon launched against this new social network, for hosting and helping piracy.
In a way, Pinterest could be the new Megaupload, even if - for instance - it's free and ad-free.
No one clearly knows the business model behind Pinterest, but there must be one. And when cash starts to flow, lawyers will ring at the door.
May be there's a way to avoid this, while keeping what makes Pinterest so unique.
As I said previously, I love the way it works. What I'm looking for is just to highlight content I've loved, share them with friends, and keep a track of them in a thematic topic. And by the way, meet people that share the same interests as me.
I don't want to make piracy. I'm loving the girls and guys who did the job.
The main problem with Pinterest in my opinion is that pictures and videos are displayed / streamed in a popin, INSIDE Pinterest. If it worked just as a simple bookmarklet, displaying shorcuts to original content, the situation would be totally different. In my board, only small previews of pictures would be displayed : on click, I'ld redirected to the original source file, like in bookmarks.
The situation would be drastically different on a legal point of vue. And on a user-benefit point of view, nothing would be lost.
My hope is that Pinterest owners will find rapidly a way to keep their nice service alive while preserving copyrights.
See also: