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If the link you clicked on WAS NOT on the Blogging Life As It Comes blog or feed, one of my other websites (spot-design.net) or in the RAKScraps forum then you have participated in Digital Piracy. Read the text below to find out more about digital piracy or go to the Stop Digital Piracy Blog.

I got this graphic from Stop Digital Piracy Blog. It was made by Kim Hill of CGEssentials. If you cannot read the graphic it says (I have added my comments on the subject in italics):

ARE YOU A PIRATE?

Top 10 Signs to Look For:

1. A pirate shares digital images without the permission of the designer.

You need to get permission from the designer to legally share any digital images! Or you can send your friend to their website so they can get it themselves.

2. A pirate thinks it is okay to share digital images with their online sharing group(s).

This is illegal! You can share the link to the site, even the the link to the exact page but not directly to the digital images!

3. A pirate thinks it is okay to hotlink digital images and share them through internet sharing groups.

You can link to the website your got the digital images but not directly to the digital images!

4. A pirate thinks it it okay to share free digital images, even though it is against a designer’s term of use.

This is illegal! The terms of use tells you what you can and cannot do with the designer’s digital images. It doesn’t matter if you paid for them or got them for free, the TOU tell’s what is legal and illegal, so read them!

5. A pirate thinks it is okay to share paid kits with friends who had computer malfunctions and “lost” their kits.

Your friend should learn to backup her files. Sharing for any reasons is illegal!

6. A pirate thinks it is okay to alter another designer’s work and pass it off as their own.

You might be able to get permission from the designer to alter them items and share them with others if you give credit for the original work. Ask the designer!

7. A pirate thinks it is okay to rename files, rezip them and then share these with others.

This is very illegal. It’s plagiarism! You are taking credit for someone else’s hard work! Sharing (without permission from the designer) is illegal no matter how you do it.

8. A pirate thinks it is okay to use digital goods to create items for profit to them without getting permission from the designer for professional use.

Using other designer’s work for profit is illegal without permission, even for designing tools (like brushes). Some place give permission on their website that you can use them for personal use only or for commercial use. Most require that credit be given. I use Atomic Cupcake Photoshop Actions often, but I have permission to use them commercially as long as I give credit in my TOU and in my item description.

9. A pirate justifies these illegal actions by stating it is free advertising for the designer.

Free advertising? How? The people you share it with don’t even have to go to the designer’s website. The designer makes these kits and gives them out for free to get people to go to their website! Skipping that part of the freebie hurts the designer, not helps!

10. A pirate justifies these illegal actions by stating the digital goods were free.

It doesn’t matter if it is free, it is still protected under the Terms of Use.

Follow the right path.

Don’t be a pirate and don’t associate with any.