Hi @mistresscrymson, thanks for that.
There is actually an important debate going on about whether it does constitute theft. As far as I understand it there is no definitive ruling on whether gifs fall under the copyright doctrine of ‘fair use’ or not. It’s partly why the whole new
Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market from the EU is a potential internet breaker. (And you thought things got dumb with the US net neutrality bullshit…)
The core of the debate is does a gif infringe copyright, because it is only a small part of the original material and if it’s being used in a ‘limited and transformative’ manner, as I’d argue I do, then it is covered by the fair use rules. In simple terms, no one is not going to buy tokens for the camgirl because they saw the gif instead.
In fact, I’d argue that it’s MORE likely to increase her income as it will point people to her. Which is why it’s so good if you can get names or sites of where they are from, which you’ve supplied me with and I’ll absolutely add to the post if they would like that (or you can pass on their details). That undoubtedly is a downside of Tumblr, so much unattributed work out there, so it’s always great if you see something and can point readers back to the source in notes if the OP hasn’t.
I have no doubt you’ll want to argue with that, so do let me know your thoughts, and any followers chip in. I’m happy to be corrected but this is how I understand it and one of the reasons I’m very ‘gif happy’. I’d really like to hear from your friends too, if they want to message me. Do they think it’s a dick move? I want to know. A lot of Tumblr works in a big grey area of the interweb, and I’m very open to hearing what they’d prefer, not to be featured at all, or if the classic ‘any publicity is good publicity’ angle works for them.
Sincerely,
James