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PSA: On character theft
8 years ago
Hearken to me, my subjects.
OOC
This is a topic that I've wanted to discuss for some time, and I kind-of teased it in my previous journal. But, then I never got around to actually writing about it.
I have seen, on many occasions, people using furry characters that don't belong to them. And of course, I've been the victim of this in the past. I think that some people mistakenly think that these are fictional characters, but that's not precisely true in the furry fandom.
Outside of furry, famous characters like Krystal and Robin Hood and MLP have been created as part of larger universes, but they probably weren't anyone's "fursona" (but then-again: its hard to know for sure.) So inside the fandom, we tend to take a sort-of take a laissez faire attitude towards fans using these characters as avatars and RP characters.
But inside of the furry fandom, the character that we create and "play" for ourselves is part of our actual identity. We feel strong attachment to our creations, self-identify as them, and put a lot of ourselves into them. For example, in furry circles I use my character's name, rather than my given-name. I roleplay as my character, and dress as him at cons and furry parties, because, to some degree, I *am* him, and he is me. (He's just an idealized or simplified form of myself.)
So when someone steals artwork to pose as someone else, its not the same as having an avatar of Krystal. It is more like taking a photo off someone's Facebook and pretending to be them. Not only is that creepy as-hell and disrespectful, its also dangerous. You never know who sees that profile and thinks its actually you, and then makes assumptions about you from interactions with the impostor. If someone poses as you and does detestable things, how do you protect yourself and your reputation from someone else's bad behavior?
This is why posing as someone else on social media platforms is usually a violation of terms-of-service. (It might even be illegal, I'm not sure). But not all social media platforms take it as seriously for furry profiles as for "normal" profiles, which makes sense, but also makes impostor removal even more painful.
The point is: character-theft is wrong. It is creepy, dishonest and harmful, and I recommend that you report it if you see it. Contact the owner of the character, if you can, and let them know what is happening.
Anyway - thanks for reading!
~ Lord Etheras
OOC
This is a topic that I've wanted to discuss for some time, and I kind-of teased it in my previous journal. But, then I never got around to actually writing about it.
I have seen, on many occasions, people using furry characters that don't belong to them. And of course, I've been the victim of this in the past. I think that some people mistakenly think that these are fictional characters, but that's not precisely true in the furry fandom.
Outside of furry, famous characters like Krystal and Robin Hood and MLP have been created as part of larger universes, but they probably weren't anyone's "fursona" (but then-again: its hard to know for sure.) So inside the fandom, we tend to take a sort-of take a laissez faire attitude towards fans using these characters as avatars and RP characters.
But inside of the furry fandom, the character that we create and "play" for ourselves is part of our actual identity. We feel strong attachment to our creations, self-identify as them, and put a lot of ourselves into them. For example, in furry circles I use my character's name, rather than my given-name. I roleplay as my character, and dress as him at cons and furry parties, because, to some degree, I *am* him, and he is me. (He's just an idealized or simplified form of myself.)
So when someone steals artwork to pose as someone else, its not the same as having an avatar of Krystal. It is more like taking a photo off someone's Facebook and pretending to be them. Not only is that creepy as-hell and disrespectful, its also dangerous. You never know who sees that profile and thinks its actually you, and then makes assumptions about you from interactions with the impostor. If someone poses as you and does detestable things, how do you protect yourself and your reputation from someone else's bad behavior?
This is why posing as someone else on social media platforms is usually a violation of terms-of-service. (It might even be illegal, I'm not sure). But not all social media platforms take it as seriously for furry profiles as for "normal" profiles, which makes sense, but also makes impostor removal even more painful.
The point is: character-theft is wrong. It is creepy, dishonest and harmful, and I recommend that you report it if you see it. Contact the owner of the character, if you can, and let them know what is happening.
Anyway - thanks for reading!
~ Lord Etheras
Yeah, this is something we should all be aware and on the look out for. Sorry to hear you have to deal with this kind of thing.
And on those few times, other artists went to bat for me and got their sorry keisters banned. This had me rather annoyed since they couldn't come up with their own characters.
As for angry? You wouldn't like me when i'm angry.
That being said, I feel like taking someone else's character for anything is just the dumbest thing ever. You have infinite possibilities to make a character on your own, and you cannot fathom something better than taking some other idea someone already made? Same goes in my opinion with Renamon spinoff character, adoptables, etc.
Dunno. It's a hard subject.
But while I never claimed that the pictures were mine, there are many that do claim that they are the owner of these characters. Sometimes they even go so far to create Facebook profiles with them and tell people they are the artist. There are many assholes in the roleplaying community and even more scammers that use the art of others to scam for money.
And for the thing with the "being creative". I myself am pretty creative, but my problem is that I love basic character designs. My oldest character Merle was created 19 Years ago, but I never had art of her, and now when I finally can afford it there are others that look extremely similar.
Really, I think its a type of moral or ethical de-evolution that's occurring online. That, just because it costs nothing to make copies of digital artwork, that means it belongs to everybody. It doesn't. That artwork took real effort and imagination, and someone paid to have art made of that character.
Anyway - sorry for the rant, and thanks for your support
This is a small community. Lets assume someone were to take your facebook photo and go on sex websites in a small community pretending to be you, and then did all kinds of scat or pedo or other things that you don't approve-of. What if they keep and post logs? What if someone recognizes you in public and assumes that was you? This is really damaging stuff.
The worst possible thing is if someone assumes that the person doing stuff that you don't-like really is you and then creates artwork of your character doing those things. That's like someone photoshopping you into a porno doing something you don't like. Its like stealing your body, or at least your image, and telling a lie.
Its extremely disrespectful, if not defamatory, and dangerous.
With Krystal it isn't as bad because she's... basically... a celeb. We know that RPs and artwork of her probably aren't canon. But for someone INSIDE the community? Its not so simple.
For one, having a character isn't the same as having a photo. Just because you "identify" as your character does not equate you to your character. It's more like a company having a brand name slandered than an individual identity, since legally we make a distinction between identity and creative content.
Two, you've made some factually incorrect claims about what copyright law entails. If I go and draw your character myself, I am most likely not breaking copyright law due to the transformative nature of making my own art, compared to taking art that is already existing and pretending it is my own. This is of course subjective and under many regulations of the fair use act, of which would take a long time to go through, but is not inherently illegal itself. What the artwork is portraying, how it affects your market, and how the product is used are all factors in determining whether or not it is breaking these rules.
Three, my analogy of having someone roleplay your character is not equal to someone posting sexual content of your character you do not approve of. One is intentionally creating content, and one is using it for personal use. Having a situation where I would create say, a picture that I do not intend to release to the public and gets leaked or hacked anyway falls under a different spectrum of legal culpability that I don't really feel like getting into.
Four, I would say the size of the community is irrelevant in the discussion for either side. You're perfectly capable of perceiving smaller or larger infractions to theft of your character regardless of how large the community is, and probability of doing so shouldn't impact the moral/ethical/legal repercussions of having taken that action in the first place.
Five, like it or not, you are a celebrity as well, and will inevitably be subject to this problem. I would argue that this is also irrelevant to either side of the debate, and I would argue that there is no difference between your character or a famous one such as Krystal regardless of your existence. Just because you personally take offense to it does not impact how the law perceives it, as this is once again intellectual property and not identity. I understand it feels different because you're personally involved with your character on a deeper level, but I don't feel that this personal involvement should be considered from an objective perspective on whether or not it's legal. I'd personally also say it shouldn't have moral or ethical ramifications in the debate, though that's more of a gray area than the previous and open to subjective views.
Also, necroing three month old journals is a bit of a social faux pas.
(Point 2) I agree with you on the legality of fanart. Fanart is not intrinsically copyright infringement (I did oversimplify in an earlier comment, but a lot of fanart is actually copyright infringement because it damages the brand or makes claims to establish canon). Fan fiction, I would say, is copyright infringement. And that's basically what someone who is stealing a character is doing: inventing imaginary headcanon for your fursona.
(Point 3) I noticed that a few times you're conflating legal arguments with moral arguments. This post is primarily about whether it is right or wrong, not whether it is legal or illegal (although a lot of it is illegal).
But that having been said, I think its legally dubious to assert that creating art for private use that then gets leaked is somehow okay, because then anyone can just make art and say "I was hacked!" and be absolved of culpability. I'm also not sure it stands. Can you make a private copy of a book for your personal use? Or a movie? You can legally back stuff up, if you own a license. But nobody has a license to Etheras except me and the commissioners whom I hire. So I would assert that they do not have any right to create private Etheras artwork, regardless of hacking. The enforcability of that is pretty low, though. But I'd say its still morally wrong regardless.
(Point 4) I would agree with you that the size of the community is irrelevant, but for different reasons. If its a really small group, your reputation could be damaged (as the example from before), but in a large group a person with lots of means could hijack your character by copying, then flooding the world with copies so that they become the canon. This is why copyright is important - it protects creators!
(Point 5) The problem that I have with this point is that Krystal has indisputably objective canon. It is relatively difficult to make a TV show or a video game, and so few will have a megaphone large enough to be able to pass themselves off as an authoritative source on your character. And if they did, they would be in an impossible legal position and you'd steamroll them in court. Furry characters, because their primary medium is art and stories, anyone who can do art or stories can pretend that it is canon, or claim to be you, etc. The size of the megaphone determines how easy it is to shrug off theft.
(Social faux pas) Yes, I'm sorry. I've just been working so hard on my game company that I've been ignoring furry some, and I'm trying to get back into it. ("Game Company", you might ask. "Will there be Etheras games to establish objective Etheras canon?" Mayyybe ;) )
Anyway - thanks for the response!
The one thing I'd say is that if you were truly intending it to be private use, you would still be legally responsible for it's protection. If it was something big like the icloud security being exploited that would be a major problem that I would say they had no control over, but they really shouldn't let it be exposed to people or places that might compromise that.
For morality, I'm still not sold one way or another, and would likely need to be in your shoes to truly understand all of your views, and will concede you've dealt with the problem more than most anyone, and thus have more experience and a far more likely correct opinion on the matter.
Can't wait to see your game!
The next thing you know, companies are stepping in and getting more strict with their characters.
To me, and this is just me personally.. it feels like it's opening up a whole can of worms that a lot of folks would not want opened.
I've been known to create avatars in Second Life based on created characters i see on sites like FA.
Granted i don't use the name, but i still like replicating the looks.
I just feel like the moment you tell folks they can't use something made up.. regardless of how much of you is put into something, that it could over time lead to other things.
Kinda like feminists and SJW dill-weeds.
They don't agree with something, so they want it banned.. which then could lead to other terrible things.. like total loss of free speech.
Look, i get it.. you poured your heart and soul into it.. you feel like it's you and it's your property.. but Mickey Mouse belongs to Disney.. MLP belongs to Hasbro i believe... and if we push too far with this sorta thing.. i worry it could lead to worse.. that's all.
I don't think they should pretend to be the original, that's fucked up..
But if you're saying they can't even touch it.. i feel like it could lead to something bad for everyone.
This is not the first PSA i have seen about this on FA, and i doubt it will be the last.
But i fear it could be a rabbit hole that a lot of folks might not wanna go down...
But i rather say how i feel about something, rather than keeping it bottled up.
But my opinions are never popular.. which is partly why i have no friends.. so i gotta be me.. and i gotta say how i feel about something...
You DO have a right to the things that you invent, which is called "Intellectual Property". It is the reason why Universal can't make a movie with Luke Skywalker in it. They should not be allowed to create any content that could be considered canon. Doing-so could sabotage the franchise. If Universal wants to tank StarWars they could make a really popular well-written movie where Rei gets killed. If the fans like it, they could insist that it is canon and derail all the plans that Disney had for their Universe.
The point is: you can't use other people's stuff, and that includes stories and characters (and this is legally true too, and has been for 100+ years). You can make your own derivatives (like Battlestar Galactica was clearly inspired by Star Wars) but it must be distinct enough to not be confused with the original work.
And I'm perfectly fine with this rabbit hole. If you've been following me for long enough, you'll know that Etheras used to be featured with several popular copyrighted characters. Those images were all removed some years ago when I learned firsthand how much it sucks to have your characters used without your consent. (its not fun)
It's a legit question.
Cause last I checked, you have to register copyright protection through an official registration with the USPTO.
You really can't just say it's yours.
Personally I only see an issue is someone pretends they own something they don't, but not when used as derivative works.
I've seen a lot of fan art on this site alone.
And its always been this way, FYI. Patents and trademarks are a little different, but not totally. Here's the funny thing... most trademarks aren't even registered. All you need to do is put ™ next to your logo and that's a legal trademark, and anyone who tries to operate a business using your logo can then be prosecuted. ® is a registered trademark, which carries more weight - but its basically the same for trademarks as mailing a copy of your work to the Library of Congress for copyrights.
A trademark is basically a declaration, "I am going to be doing business with this logo. It represents my brand." and therefore anyone else using that logo can be assumed to be impersonating your company.
As-for fan art.. most companies, I think, just see it as a harmless nuisance that isn't worth going-after. But they have gone after a few that were getting too big. There was a MLP fighting game, if you'll remember. And there was a MLP original youtube fan series. The first one they went-after because they felt tarnished their brand by having their ponies shown beating eachother up (not the message they're trying to send). The second one... interestingly-enough... had entirely new ponies, but because it took place in Ponyville and tried to create its own canon, was a violation.
... 'cuz for it not to be a violation of the copyright, you need to have your 'clone' be distinct enough not to be confused with the original work. Look at Battlestar Galacticas Vipers versus X-Wing Fighters - those are distinct enough even though the BSG is clearly based on SW. If you want to make a MLP series, you could do it by making them llamas or something and calling it... little llamas. >.>
Anyway - I've gone on too long. So I'll wrap it up here. :P
Also... On your current signature... It's tiny. Like... Galactic Overlord, (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24818275/) it is nearly invisible (in the bottom left-hand corner in a blue-white heavy area). If it was slightly larger and red (maybe a medium purple), it would draw the eye to that area when the viewer looked in the area. In fact... looking at your character's face I barely see the signature. It's a blue fuzzy line.
Thats pretty much exactly how I feel about Amunet except that it's not so much that he IS me but I want to be more like him.
On his creation: I fell in love with your character so much that once someone asked me "hey ill help you make a fursona what do you want to be?" I couldn't think of anything other than a femboy fennec. I have drawn a lot of inspiration from you that's true but I've made Amunet quite different from appearance and even to giving him a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong (spanning 5000+ years LONG lol) backstory that maybe one day I'll actually write down.
Amunets creation has really helped change me and turn me into a better person as well because I attempt to emulate him to a degree. I have grown more comfortable with crossdressing in public which is something I have always wanted to do in my life but never dreamed I would do from fear of how people would treat me. I've become a nicer person and my overall attitude and outlook on life has changed for the better. I used to lose my temper get angry and fly off the handle at the drop of a hat. Now I've learned how to control it and let a lot of things slide that used to make me blow a gasket for no reason. It has helped me be a better person for my fiance as well: I have been treating him a hell of a lot better than I ever had previously. Hell, I've even adopted his faith as my own. I become a member of the Kemetic Orthodoxy due to his creation partially but also from my childhood fascination with everything ancient egyptian from watching ten commandments as a kid and the old (and crappy 99) mummy movies. I even plan on tattooing his markings on myself later on.
I completely understand what you mean though and I agree, but there is a difference between someone stealing a character wholesale and someone drawing inspiration from a particular furry character from the fandom.
But seeing as the Furry Fandom is usually detested by most of "Normie" Society, it would never reach those grounds.
HOWEVER, there is something called Intellectual Property Theft.........
Seeing as FA trademarks/Copyrights our works as OURS, along with accurate dates of when they were uploaded and by whom....
You could file for IP Theft.
Keep on Rocking!
Thanks for the post! You keep rockin too ^.^