Pinterest addresses copyright issues with opt-out option

As Pinterest grows at break-neck speed, it has to iron out kinks along the way. One of the issues that's been floating around the Web recently is the idea that "pinning" might actually be violating copyright laws.

"The last few months have been a whirlwind here at Pinterest," the site's co-founder Ben Silbermann wrote in a blog post today. "As a company, we care about respecting the rights of copyright holders."

Silbermann explains that as of today, Web sites will be able to opt-out of having their images used by Pinterest's users.

"We understand and respect that sometimes site owners do not want any of their material pinned," Silbermann writes. "For these folks, we provide a snippet of code that can be added to any website."

The code can be added to the head of any page on the Web site wanting to opt-out and once installed it will tell pinners, "This site doesn't allow pinning to Pinterest. Please contact the owner with any questions. Thanks for visiting!"

Silbermann notes that he believes most Web sites don't mind that Pinterest users are grabbing their images--since it drives traffic to their sites. Many Web sites have even added "Pin It" buttons to their sites, he adds. "We've seen Pin It buttons on sites across the web, including some of our favorite retailers, marketplaces, museums, publications, and blogs."

In other Pinterest news, according to LL Social, the virtual pinboard site also instated a new 500-character limit on pin captions this past week.