Web Profile Etiquette What are your thoughts

[Mrs Langtrees]

I recieved this email from a advertiser enquiry and thought it would make a good post on this forum as bothe the main administrators (Serena & Myself) are now running similar business in the web industry.
I image we have other webmasters from other sites checking us out and would like to know your thoughts and understanding of the copyright laws on Advertisers Profiles and photo's.
I regularly cut and paste from other profiles if I am given permission from the advertiser.

When we spilt the forum into two parts with the industry hosted on the Langtrees new web site I want the other webmasters and Serena especially to feel comfortable that I will still treat the site in a honest and fair mannner.
My opinion is that Smart working ladies should have two to five paid profiles and two to five free profiles on the web to market themselves to attract the right sort of clientelle for there needs and services.


" I dont have a website so I guess I will wait for yours to be finished and do it that way. My profile is on another escort site but i dont know if i can use that on your site. Not up with the website etiquette".

My Reply,


Hello,
You own your own website and photo’s and if you give me permission to take your profile for the other site I can do and it is ethical, the only time someone owns rights to your photo’s and description is if they pay you for the use of your photo’s etc.
Send the name I will make enough changes to upset no one.(well not much anyway) when they see the new site I am building they will be spitting chips because it is looking very special and presents our industry in a dignified and commercial manner so we get more regulars and better results for the lady. I work Langtrees.com on the same principal as I did as a Madam, its my job to keep the ladies busy, that way they have no time to pester me. LOL
A busy girl makes a happy girl and a happy webmaster (ex madam)
Regards,

 

[Fudd]

...there's an issue here that comes to mind and that is if the other site's agreement (whether implied, oral or written) with the WL states that the service being provided includes the costs associated with drafting of the WL's profile & arranging for pics to be produced (regardless if that fee is seperate to or a component of the advertising fee) but does not grant the WL any right and/or title to the "intellectual property" associated with the profile or pics. In other words, the intellectual property (writing the profile and taking the pics) remains vested with the other site.

For example, site ABC charges Miss X a monthly fee of $50 to advertise Miss X's profile including pics on its site. The fee is for a minimum period of 12 months and includes taking the pics, writing the profile and providing contact details but does not include ownership of the pics or profile.

If Miss X agrees to this and pays the monthly fee, then she could be prevented from granting any consent or assigning any right/title etc in the profile and/or pic to a third party regardless if she gave her permission to do so.

The terms & conditions associated with sites (such as the fictitious ABC) should be reviewed to prevent any possible breach of contract.

Regards
Fudd.

Disclaimer - I'm not a lawyer and the above are just my thoughts from having worked in a legal environment.

 

[Mrs Langtrees]

Yes Fudd I get your meaning, but you can not copyright a persons photo that you take even if you can sell it like the professional celebrity hounds to.
If the owner of the photo want to use it to produce Xmas cards the photographer can not prevent it unless it was a commercial photo shoot where that person was paid or signed a waiver to the rights.
This is my understanding.
The reality is the ladies supplies the photos in 99% of cases.Some agencies organise a photo shoot but charge the ladies separately for this fee so therefore as private image photo's they become her rights.
Her profile is her skills and her looks etc so therefore I think they become her property also.
The profile i am not 100% sure about, why I stated the post so we can help establish a code of practise as this will become a issue as the web advertising grows.

 

[Naughty Thoughts]

As Fudd said, it basically boils down to who took the photo and under what circumstances.

Since in this situation most of the photos are supplied by the ladies themselves, they are their property do with as they wish. I can understand if some advertisers don't want the same images appearing on multiple sites, but they ought to put that into their fine print.

If the fictitious ABC site wanted to get snarky and started hounding Miss X over her having said images on another site, odds are that word would et around that ABC are a pack of drongos and they'd start losing business. If they didn't pay for the photos (either as a shoot specifically for the site or purchasing the rights to them) then they'd be pretty hard pressed to make a case.

Where they would have a perfect right to get grumpy would be if one advertiser was hotlinking the images on another site. That would be downright rude as it would be using u their bandwidth. If you copy the images and re-host them on your own site then I don't see how that could be a problem.

 

[Mrs Langtrees]

Hi Loneroad,
I have been meaning to call and answer your PM about the update. If you can I'd love to merge the boards together as soon as possible. I am in Perth Monday to Thursday I have many things to do but Monday evening or Tueday evening would be great, i can probably organise a office with better computers than my lap top next door to Langtrees, and dinner would be on me.

 

[Naughty Thoughts]

I'll make myself available Tuesday night (I assume you mean the 10th?).

Just advise when and where.

 

[someguy]

The only time it would be wrong to take a profile from another site would be if the webmaster/mistress or someone involved in running that site wrote the profile. If the profile wording comes from the lady and the photos have been paid for and therefore owned by the lady then she can put them up wherever she pleases. Personally if I found myself in a situation where a webmaster/mistress told me that I couldn't put my pictures or the profile i wrote on any other site, I would be asking that person to remove my profile and pictures from their site along with a refund.

 

[Mrs Langtrees]

Just about my thoughts except even if the webmaster writes the profile as a way to attract the advertiser, he is still using her style of work and presentation as a guide to the content, so I believe the lady or agency is paying that for part of the service, therefore owns the wording as well. We all know today, is a world of copy and paste. The law says it has only to be 8% different, surely our industry as the world's oldest profession could over look the 8%.
As my new site will be added by the ladies themselves in the majority of the cases, I see that I have a need to offer them an editing service which will benefit both parties.

 

[AmyMonroe]

Most ladies will have provided the images to the other sites in the first place, and I would suggest its a hell of a lot less work to just get the ladies to email you a copy of the images rather than right clicking on another sites copy (where you would quite possibly have to photoshop out watermarking etc)

I always retain copyright of any images I have taken whether professionally (I get a signed consent from the photographer to use them on my website or advertising to cover the bases as he holds the copyright initially as he (or she) took the images - being the person in the photos does not confer copyright unless you have signed consent from the photographer) or by someone I know...and I always getall copies of the images taken on disc at full resolution so that I can use them as I see fit.

Its much easier to have the advertiser email you a copy, and it also keeps things on a friendly level with other sites. Many escort sites will optimise photos on the ladies behalf, blurring images, adjusting lighting etc, and I can perfectly understand that when they have gone to that trouble to present the images in the best way possible on their websites, why they would be pissed off at someone else right clicking and using the images.

It really should be up to the advertiser to provide the images...if for only for the reason that each site has different verification methods (ranging from zilch as demonstrated by the high number of fake photos in use on Australian Escorts). To keep safe within the copyright act, each site should do their own verification process before using any images presented to them. (the fines for using images the advertiser does not hold copyright to is around the 15000usd per PAGE VIEW - so its a serious matter)

If you would like further information on the requirements of what you should be getting from your advertisers let me know and I will forward you a copy of the email I received from OneModel Place who have had numerous profile imagages stolen and used by escorts in Australia)

cheers
Amy