Long ago and far away, one of my teachers suggested that my brain was proof of Brownian Motion.

So I move through the social media world pinging off things and bouncing all over the place without much in the way of a plan. I know what my plan ought to be, I just don't actually have one.

Which brought me to Pinterest. Why? Well, because apparently Pinterest, the glossy digital pinboard, drives more traffic than Google +, YouTube, and LinkedIn combined. It's only just behind Twitter, despite being so new it still squeaks when you rub it with your mouse.

But. But, but, but. Moreso than any other digital service, Pinterest gives me the heebiejeebies. I look at it and I think "surely that's an entire service which is reliant on (possibly) minor copyright infringement?" And lo and behold, there's been some chatter about just that. The situation is ambiguous at best. 

The first thing which occurs to me is that we - really anyone whose business works in the online world at all, which means almost everyone - need to get on top of the standard release. Publishers need to make a clear statement that yes, you may indeed use services like Pinterest to reproduce and promulgate book jackets, publicity material, and so on. (Or make it clear that you may not, of course, but you may imagine that I feel that would be insane.) 

In the meantime, I've begun a little experiment. It is in no way scientific or conclusive, and it's early days. However. I have composed a standard email, and I have been sending it to people to request permission to pin something. In theory, that ought to be a totally trivial request of the sort which should just get a single word response. (I'm hoping for "yes", obviously, but "no" would make sense too. "Allegorical" or "spatula" would be harder to parse.)

This is slightly less pointless than it appears; one of the arguments made against tinkering with copyright law is that securing permissions is relatively simple and fast. Well, yes and no. I've been doing just that for my non-fiction book with John Murray, The Blind Giant (plug plug plug) and while it may be faster than it was it's neither pain-free nor simple. Nor actually very fast. And writers I've spoken to on the topic have rolled their eyes and covered their ears and asked for gin. 

The score on my Pinterest project so far - 

Requests: 5.

Positive responses: 0.

Negative responses: 0.

Acknowledgements of receipt: 0.

Hm...