useing images that are hosted on other sites

[gder01]

I go to google images, find some pictures. i copy the images location and then place the picture into my blog. technically I am not hosting this image, the original site is.

Is this legal? Or was it wishfull thinking:D

[RRWH]

At the very least it is theft!

You are putting a link to your image into YOUR site, and there is someone out there hosting the image, and paying for it - theft.

Be very careful doing this as you have absolutely no control over the image.

I personally have been known to change an image that is being leeched from my site to the most disgusting pr0n image I can find - and guess whose site that will show up on (and it wont be mine)...

[Mike S.]

At the very least it is theft!
I personally have been known to change an image that is being leeched from my site to the most disgusting pr0n image I can find - and guess whose site that will show up on (and it wont be mine)...
LOL, funniest thing I heard in a good while.

At the very least, you should get permission from the web owner of the site that the image is hosted on, if it is a corporate site, try to get written permission opposed to an email. Both can be upheld in court, but a written authorization is better legal documentation.

[50plus]

Leeching or hotlinking is theft. Not only do you pass off the image as your own - which it is not - but you are also using (ie stealing) the bandwidth of the owner each time your paged is viewed and the image is called from its original location.

You will find that hardly anybody will allow you to do so.

[klown]

code can be injected into pictures as well.. making them more dangerous to place on your site.. your basically giving somebody else an opportunity to write code directly onto your site..

[LongHaul]

What about copying an image from a website, reworking it in Photoshop, then hosting it yourself with a caption mentioning the website address you got it from... but not getting implicit permission? Not the header image from Citibank's website or anything, just an obscure image from an obscure website.

Think it would be ok?

[klown]

not really, still considered stealing content. i doubt they would find it though, if you steal an image and rework it i just wouldnt link to their site at all.

u either ask them for permission or dont tell them anything at all about you doing it

[sanlands]

LOL, funniest thing I heard in a good while.

At the very least, you should get permission from the web owner of the site that the image is hosted on, if it is a corporate site, try to get written permission opposed to an email. Both can be upheld in court, but a written authorization is better legal documentation.

Yeah, there are a lot of simple scripts that'll make any hotlinked image from a server to be some shock image.. e;g goatse

[kmayen]

You are at the least stealing bandwidth from the person who is hosting the image. Some images are public domain you need to know waht ones are.

[LongHaul]

Some images are public domain you need to know waht ones are.

How about if you do a Google image search, and the same image comes up on 10 different websites. Maybe not technically public domain, but close enough right? ;)

[Lpspider]

hotlinking can be disabled by the owner of the images, if they wish.

[accentnepal]

Although it is not likely, you could be sued by the picture owner for using their pictures - even if the picture is scattered over several other websites without the owner's permission. The chances of a lawsuit increase with the successfulness of your site, a little ticking problem waiting to happen.

Photos in the Public Domain are free to use - this includes most US government and NASA photos, and photos taken before 1923. This is a vast area to find photos. There are also a number of free photo sites such as http://www.sxc.hu/ (Read the terms).

It is just a little more work to avoid trouble - and to respect the owners of the photos. How would you feel if you found one of your own photos on someone else's website without your permission?

I thought so.

[Peter Avey]

I once posted a image of peoples sun tans, there was a surfer, a bike rider etc..etc.. and a programmer, obviousely the programmer was pure white, i found it very very funny and posted it on a forum.. Then the image got changed to a soopy dog saying im so sad posting this..

And did i get it ripped out of me yes i did! :P

[aeronautic.net]

How about if you do a Google image search, and the same image comes up on 10 different websites. Maybe not technically public domain, but close enough right? ;)

Ask yourself why are you looking for loopholes for theft?

Unless it is crystal clear any IP (intellectual property - photo, story, patent) is in the public domain or your use meets the letter of "Fair Use" (look it up), you must assume, in the case of a photo, it is someone's copyrighted property (in the USA at least).

As to your question - Associated Press (AP) stories show up on thousands of sites - are those public domain? No, they are syndicated. And I'm sure stolen often too.

People who hotlink without permission suck. And yes, I deal with this issue all the time. Forums and Myspace are the worst. :mad:

[gder01]

I personally have been known to change an image that is being leeched from my site to the most disgusting pr0n image I can find - and guess whose site that will show up on (and it wont be mine)...

so when you get the disgusting image to get the person back, do you get premission from the pron site?

[Pat Gael]

People who hotlink without permission suck. And yes, I deal with this issue all the time. Forums and Myspace are the worst. :mad:

Agree, one of my clients had such problem, having to work on a mod_rewrite for her to stop such rascals.

Bandwidth theft has decreased, hotlinking remains tho.

However instead of stolen pictures, surfers can see a lightweight image inviting them to visit my client's website

[Angelus]

However instead of stolen pictures, surfers can see a lightweight image inviting them to visit my client's website

How did you do that? :)

p.l.u.r.

[Pat Gael]

Add the following to the very top of your .htaccess file:



RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://YOUR_WEBSITE.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://YOUR_WEBSITE.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.YOUR_WEBSITE.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.YOUR_WEBSITE.com$ [NC]

RewriteRule .*\.(bmp|jpg|jpeg|gif|png|tif)$ /YOUR_DIRECTORY_FOR ALLOWED_IMAGES/your_promo_image.gif [R,L]


Upload this .htaccess to the root directory and all the images on your site will be protected.

However you will need to grant permissions for displaying your promo image and probably others elsewhere, such as banenrs, buttons, your own postings in forums, etc.

Create YOUR_DIRECTORY_FOR ALLOWED_IMAGES and upload onto this area such allowed images.

Now create another .htaccess exclusively for this directory, with nothing else except this:


RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^.*$ -


And you are done! :)

[danielong]

Great info.. could use it in future