This blog post is in response to the Korean Data Blackout that has been scheduled (on Tumblr) to launch on September 7th and continue for ten days, ending on September 16th. I don't care if I lose subscribers or followers for this; I think I have enough faith in my readers to believe that they'll respect my opinion on this issue and not leave me for something so minor as a small dispute over the ownership of a few pictures. I don't edit fantaken photos, and I most definitely do not condone intellectual theft. 

If you haven't seen the Tumblr post I am refering to, the link is here: http://kdata-blackout.tumblr.com/

First of all, I'll express my undying gratitude and appreciation for the amazing fantaken photos that these (select) Korean fans provide for us international fans, and I commend their dedication to their hobby, going so far as to spend their own money on expensive cameras and equipment, buying concert tickets and tickets to events to take pictures, taking time to sit and edit their photos to make them look nice, and spending time managing their fansites. Really, they should be proud of their efforts; thanks to them, the international fanbase is growing. 

And I agree that editing these photos without express permission and against the wishes of the owners is wrong, but not to such a serious degree as this KData Blackout site is making it out to be. If someone edits a fantaken photo, crops out the logo and tries to pass off the photo as their own, then yes, by all means, this person has committed a theft. I honestly don't see the reason for all the fuss over an edit of a fantaken photo if the editor cites the original photo and gives credit to the photographer. I write fanfics, which also utilizes the intellectual property of other people, but the disclaimers at the beginning waives whatever ownership I have over any of that property. Occassionally, I may end up writing an original line of catch-phrase that someone might like, and it'll spark some inspiration in them. I've had a reader come up to me and ask for my permission to use a line in my fanfic in one of her stories, and she offered to credit me. So I said yes, and rather than get over the fact that something I wrote is going to appear in someone else's work, I felt flattered. 

Editing fantaken photos isn't much different than writing a literary analysis essay. In English classes, you write essays about classic novels and explicate the themes and construct theses about the stories and all that good stuff. And when you write an essay like that, you HAVE to include quotations from the novel as textual evidence and then cite the author at the end. And I am certain that 99% of the time, if you are writing an essay about a novel and quoting evidence from it, it is most definitely a novel of literary merit. And if I were an author and I saw fanfics of my books or people writing essays about it, the last thing I would be is upset; people are writing about my work, my work must have been pretty good. 

Editing fantaken photos is pretty similar; if someone edits a photo or moves it, it's not because they had some kind of malicious intent or thought that the photo was ugly and needed enhancement; chances are, this person edited that photo because they thought it held artistic merit and ought to be seen by others. So realy, my opinion here, is a qualification: people who commit intellectual theft are stealing, and editing a photo and taking credit for it is wrong; however, there is no harm in editing a fantaken photo and citing the original photographer, providing a link to the original picture, and/or disclaiming your right to the photo. 

Seriosuly, if this logic was enforced and extended to all other intellectual property, it'd be wrong to edit official photos, too. Granted, the photographers who take official photos are paid by their agencies while fan-photographers are funded by money from their own pocket, it is too idealistic to believe that the photos they post on the Internet will not be edited or moved. The Internet (and the fandom) doesn't work that way, sweetheart, and after years of using Tumblr and Naver or whatever social networking site you use, you should know that. Once you put something in cyberspace, it never really disappears and it will be seen by everyone and there are too many netizens online for you to police them all. Face the reality of it: you cannot stop people from editing fantaken photos anymore than you can stop the sun from rising. It's not right, of course, and it is a harsh truth, but let's be logical about things: there are simply too many editors for you to catch them all. You can manage them, of course; you can remind people to give proper credits and provide links, but preventing editing totally is too idealistic of a goal. 

These fantaken photos aren't even copyrighted so I don't know where all this rubbish about editing fantaken photos being illegal came from. It is rude, of course, to go against someone's wishes like that, and people should stop being douchebags and just be polite, but c'est la vie. Also, I feel like (select) Korean fans putting rules and restrictions over the ownership of photos seems like their way of pushing authority on us international fans, and I highly doubt they do this exclusively for our enjoyment, too. Seoul, South Korea is almost more than 6000 miles from where I am; I highly doubt that when that sasaeng fans is sitting in that venue with her overpriced camera shooting pictures of Taemin that she is thinking about me. More likely is that she is thinking about how to get the best shot in order to compete with the other fansites. All these statements about how international fans practically owe their fandom experience to Korean fans is really degrading. I don't owe them anything, they committed all those actions on their own. People need to stop turning them into martyrs. They need to shove this mentality running in their minds that they run some sort of monopoly over kpop pictures. Honestly, none of us ever forced them to buy an overpriced camera and concert tickets and none of us forced them to post them up online. Of course, I am extremely grateful for their hard work and dedication, and I admire their photography skills and all. I can see why they would be upset, but taking this problem to the point of starting this Blackout movement, in my opinion, is overkill. 

I don't like arguing and fighting over trvial things like this; it really all the fun out of fangirling, and that's what fandoms are supposed to be about. Fandoms are supposed to be light and fun and all-inclusive, but when people take things like the ownership of photos and blow it up into such a big deal like this, it really just ruins things for everyone. So seriously, if you're an editor, please be considerate to the feelings of the original owner: if they ask you not to edit their pictures, then don't. If you absolutely must, give the original owner all the credit for the photo and if you can, include a link to it. If you can't find the original owner, disclaim ownership to it, and do not be rude. If you're a photographer, stop being so about people editing your pictures; if they are editing your picture, then your picture must be great; take it as a compliment or whatever. But, please, just stop fighting over this issue, it is really getting old.