But why, for example, has Pinterest failed to implement a straightforward system for recording the rights status of images its users post, as Flickr has? The answer is simple: By resolving the rights on an image after the fact, Pinterest creates a frictionless mechanism for sharing. Which is precisely why the site has taken off.
Spend a few minutes using Pinterest, and in particular its bookmarklet, and you’ll recognize the work of some seriously talented UX designers. The sort who understand that what you leave out is just as important as what you put in. Funny thing is, Pinterest’s dodge on copyright is a part of that excellent UX.
A lot of what goes on Pinterest that’s a violation of copyright is probably OK in the eyes of many whose images are being appropriated. After all, because Pinterest includes a link back to the source of a piece of content, it’s already fifth in driving referral traffic to websites, and it’s even better at driving traffic to retailers. That traffic is a sort of in-kind payment to most sites for the use of their images, and it’s inarguable that Pinterest is a new use of that content that publishers probably couldn’t capture on their own. Whereas assigning rights to images wouldn’t just impede sharing on Pinterest – it might cause it to implode. The Internet masses aren’t suddenly going to become experts on fair use.