I have always been a little ambivalent about the many Luftwaffe pages on Facebook. For authors and publishers social media can be a good forum for making buyers and readers aware of your work. Elsewhere Facebook 'Groups' host a number of 'well-known' posters and experts - and other enthusiasts- presenting all sorts of material and commenting. Sounds good right? However there are some down-sides to FB's Luftwaffe pages, quite apart from those star 'contributors' who lift most of their material from these blog pages..
As one enthusiast put it when faced with a poster seeking details of the Bf 109 K-14s delivered to JG 52 and whose reference library appeared to comprise one solitary Squadron Signal monograph ; ".. there are certain places and mediums to have serious discussions on aviation history and certain places where it is futile to attempt such a task..." Or as another said; "..sorry, I prefer to be stupid on the 12 o'Clock High forum than brilliant on Facebook..". Too many posters and too many fantasists who spend every day putting on line out-of-date artworks, pictures of Erich Hartmann, entire pages of Luftwaffe in Focus, a whole book of Sundin profile artworks, not to mention all the rare pictures from the two volume JG 300 history or even the JG 300 web site..
The ease with which FB 'works' appears to be part of the 'problem'. Browsing the various Groups can be much quicker and faster than wading through a forum - as any FB user will know you get updates -or "notifications"- the moment your 'friends' post. Some of these FB groups may quickly rival 'traditional' internet forums over-seen by ever-present and over-bearing moderators ( and I don't mean you Nick!).
One thing does really puzzle me about FB - why post 'decent' material there ? It is just so ephemeral - here one day, gone the next. Then trying to find something on a FB group page after the event is pretty much impossible so there is still plenty of space for the 'traditional' forum or blog site which have decent search functions!
The school of thought seems to be that WW II images, even artworks based on such images are essentially public domain and if posted for discussion and education, count as "fair use" when it comes to copyright - the laws of which vary just about everywhere and which, especially in the US appear quite liberal..
Subject: Re: Facebook copyright report Form
Hi, Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Please note that in order for us to process a report alleging infringement or violation of legal rights, that report would need to come from someone authorised to act on behalf of the rights owner (e.g. lawyer, agent). Based on the information that you have provided, it is not clear to us that you are the rights owner or are authorised to act on their behalf. Please clarify whether you are the rights owner, or if acting in a representative capacity, please clarify your relationship to the rights owner. Once we have received this information, we will be happy to investigate this matter further. If you are not in fact the rights owner or their authorised representative, but you believe that their rights may be infringed or violated by content on the site, you may wish to contact the rights owner directly. Thank you,
Intellectual Property Operations Facebook
Subject: Re: Copyright Report Form
Hi, Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We have removed or disabled access to the content that you have reported for violating the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities concerning the following link: https://www.facebook.com/group/MesserschmittFighters/
As you can see I tested FB's own reporting system a while back - the person behind the 'Messerschmitt Fighters' group page had posted tons of pictures that quite obviously weren't his. There was a rapid response from Facebook and access to specific copyright material that I complained about was quickly blocked. As the complainant the material you report has to be your copyright or else you must be what FB refers to as the 'copyright holder's representative' - and you have to be able to demonstrate that. Simply reporting that a FB page has posted over 150 of Claes Sundin's profile artworks - another FB page - won't necessarily result in FB taking any action. Posting images from such sources constantly will have an impact on the production of new works. So it is hardly surprising that - as one FB group moderator recently opined - some people "...are only joining the group to check copyright violations.." Given that there are so many of them they are perfectly entitled to so...
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Sales of repros as originals on Ebay
Most enthusiasts - and certainly not David Weiss - wouldn't dream of spending 1,000 euros on a set of images, would they ?
Subject: Re: Facebook copyright report Form
Hi, Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Please note that in order for us to process a report alleging infringement or violation of legal rights, that report would need to come from someone authorised to act on behalf of the rights owner (e.g. lawyer, agent). Based on the information that you have provided, it is not clear to us that you are the rights owner or are authorised to act on their behalf. Please clarify whether you are the rights owner, or if acting in a representative capacity, please clarify your relationship to the rights owner. Once we have received this information, we will be happy to investigate this matter further. If you are not in fact the rights owner or their authorised representative, but you believe that their rights may be infringed or violated by content on the site, you may wish to contact the rights owner directly. Thank you,
Intellectual Property Operations Facebook
Subject: Re: Copyright Report Form
Hi, Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We have removed or disabled access to the content that you have reported for violating the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities concerning the following link: https://www.facebook.com/group/MesserschmittFighters/
As you can see I tested FB's own reporting system a while back - the person behind the 'Messerschmitt Fighters' group page had posted tons of pictures that quite obviously weren't his. There was a rapid response from Facebook and access to specific copyright material that I complained about was quickly blocked. As the complainant the material you report has to be your copyright or else you must be what FB refers to as the 'copyright holder's representative' - and you have to be able to demonstrate that. Simply reporting that a FB page has posted over 150 of Claes Sundin's profile artworks - another FB page - won't necessarily result in FB taking any action. Posting images from such sources constantly will have an impact on the production of new works. So it is hardly surprising that - as one FB group moderator recently opined - some people "...are only joining the group to check copyright violations.." Given that there are so many of them they are perfectly entitled to so...
Similar articles on this blog
Sales of repros as originals on Ebay
Most enthusiasts - and certainly not David Weiss - wouldn't dream of spending 1,000 euros on a set of images, would they ?