With me going on and on about posting my art on Tumblr, the most common question I've heard from friends is "Aren't you scared of putting your art online? What if someone steals it?"
First off, art theft is an awful thing to do. It is the swiping of someone's creative work, emphasis on work. Stealing any piece of art means also stealing the person's time and energy spent making the piece, their emotional and physical stress of thinking up something original, their possible financial gain from the piece, and their joy of having made it. A little on the extreme and emotional side? I think not. When someone's work is stolen, this leaves a sour taste. This person may opt to never again post their work, show their art to anyone, may even be so crippled with fear that they stop making art completely.
However, I believe there is a distinction between art theft online and art theft in the "real world." Art theft from a museum or gallery or your rival's locker in art school is clear-cut. It is a consciously malicious selfish act, it is an obvious crime with clearly stated laws broken. It is an act with selfish personal gains; financially by selling a rare or expensive piece, esteem in passing off a work of genius as your own, or maybe even just spite.
Art theft online is not always so clear. Many have internalized the ideal that the internet is practically a hippie commune. Everything should be free to share and if it isn't, then the person/company is evil. Once something is put online, then it is free for all. The person uploading it should have known better or should have expected it by now. This is propagated by free data that, in the past, would have cost a premium to access. (For ex. newspaper archives, medical information, pornography, music, television etc.) Whenever a company tries to institute a paywall, there is immediate derision followed by failure. (See article on Newsday's subscription attempt.) Others simply do not know that it is etiquette to attribute an image, song or video to the original creator.
Another difference is the outcome of art theft online. There are definitely instances where art is stolen for financial gain (ex. John T. Unger's firebowls). There have been (rumored) instances of chain companies (clothing stores and the like) stealing designs for mass production. The majority of art theft, however, doesn't result in major losses. Most art thieves are kids in middle school who see a drawing of a fairy or a vampire, post it in their blog to share and forget to link to the creator. They may print the image out and say they drew it. In comparison to "real world" art thieves, this is a mild case of un-educated misjudgment.
It is at this age that educational systems should be teaching people how to write essays with proper bibliographies, annotations and the results of plagiarism. On the part of the artist, there should be friendly but many reminders that works posted are created and owned by an individual. I think there should also be an encouragement for people to share the work by posting on their blogs, Facebook or Twitter....with a link to the creator. Make it easy for them. Provide the link in text form, have your website URL on the image itself.
Personally, I do not worry much about art theft. Mostly because my work is of an auto-biographical nature and it is difficult to pass off work like that as made by a different person. Also because I like to subscribe to the positive, even naive, side of art theft...if someone thinks your work is good enough to steal, make something even better. I like to think of it as not being naive but rather choosing not to be afraid of making art at all.
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