Angry phone call from scottish guy

Hello,

I co-own Goorip, it basically uses the Google's Image Search but displays the results as fullsize pictures instead of thumbnails.

Some scottish guy rang my mobile this morning and in a very angry tone said I need to stop "hosting his images" within the hour of I will hear from his "legal people".

Am I actually doing anything wrong considering it is basically just Google and what is the worst that can happen? I get a C+D and then maybe I should consider doing something?

 

You site is not returning google's image searches.....totally way off
Instead of worrying about this guy maybe you should worry about how Google is gonna think....if you are indeed pulling from thier results

 

What do you mean "totally way off" - yes it is returning Google's image results? Sorry if I misunderstand.

And if Google cared then they would just ban the IP from accessing Google Images of last resort, C+D so not much concern there I would think.

 

I've put up the following disclaimer, hopefully this may help.

Disclaimer: Goorip is powered by and uses Google's popular image search and therefore is not responsible for the images that are displayed here from your search. Goorip does not host any images, only link to them. If you don't want an image that belongs to you showing on this site then we advise you set up a robots.txt blocking Google's image agent from crawling your website, otherwise contact Google with your request. If you believe there is something we can do to help, then you may contact us via

 

Well, from my point of view, what you are doing and what Google is doing is two different things. Your site is actually allowing both copyright infringement and also stealing bandwidth from the other source site.

By downloading the full image you are using alot of bandwidth from the source site, and since most people pay for the bandwidth their sites use that's definitely not good. Also, your site doesn't show any copyright information regarding to any of the images. So in essence someone can definitely file a copyright complaint against you.

Your disclaimer won't be of much help either. By allowing Google image search, the webmaster is allowing Google to show thumbnails of the image that links directly back to the page the image is used upon. Your site circumvents that while using the source site's resources without providing any value (the visitor) back to the site.

I'm not a lawyer, so I can't give you specific legal advice or comment on specific issues, but this seems to be very risky. I would suggest that you contact a copyright lawyer for advice and perhaps clear this with Google as well (to be on the safe side).

 

Google will ban your IP when you start making enough requests that it puts up a red flag. Trust me, they've done it to me during many of my PHP experiments.

 

Doesn't google make their search results freely available to webmasters? It seems like this is just a new way of doing what they already offer for free to people.

Just my humble opinion.

 

Sure - freely available for you to search Google... but in order to "distribute Google results [like AOL] you need to be licensed under Google's Search Network".

Hot linking is actually illegal and so is taking the image without permission... in either case the C&D is 'likely' actionable.

 

In fact something similar occurs pulling up Wikipedia results, and they have a discussion on this matter out there, at the Wiki pages.

 

I thought that Google's argument that what they are doing is not copyright infringement is based, in part, on the fact that they only return thumbnails and not full size images.

Also, you might like to note that even Google's thumbnails have been found to infringe:
http://www.out-law.com/page-6660
(and there are lots of other articles about this case online)

Oh, and like everyone else has said, hotlinking images is not a nice thing to do.

 

Yes but it's totally in the webmaster's control. All they need to do is prevent hotlinking and/or put up a robots.txt to block Google Images. Now in a court of a law I have a feeling that would count for something, especially if the information is available in the disclaimer.

Can someone please tell me what would likely happen if this person wanted to take legal action? Would I probably just get a harmless C+D asking me to remove the site/or links? Remember I make no profit from this website.

 

If it was to go to court google would win 100% , looks like you are looking to get into trouble.

 

I personally am annoyed by the argument that I should have locked my door if I didn't want someone to grab my belongings, if you know what I mean.

That person could contact your web host with a copyright infringement complaint and your host could shut down your web site.

 

OK so the host shuts down the site... all I am worried about is the possibility of being sued and therefore losing lots of money.

What are the chances of that when it's non-profit? Surely they would officially ask for removable first?

Also what legally makes me responsible for the site? Me owning the domain or me hosting the website? Or Both?

 

Geez, why do you insist on stealing other site's content and bandwidth??

Take down the f*king content and problem solved!

 

Yes but it's totally in the webmaster's control. All they need to do is prevent hotlinking and/or put up a robots.txt to block Google Images.

Your being a twat. If you search on google, it'll display thumbnails and when you want to display the full image it'll actually display the entire target website. You are stealing content and bandwidth.

Webmasters WANT their sites found, so they don't want to necessarily add something into robots.txt to stop leeches.

You've done your experiment, looks good. You are stealing and should stop it now.

 

Angry Scottish guy..hmm....could be any one of us really.
The weather at this time of year turns our normally sensitive demeanours into
something more like the incredible hulk.

Stealing bandwidth would have the same effect too.
What if the tables were turned, how would you feel?
Ask first. Have people opt in rather than make make them have to opt out.

 

Lots of free content out there, All you have to do is search and make sure you add where the content come from. Some Writers love exposure.

 

Nice Script BTW..

 

It's you who is the twat here. It's not webmasters responsibility to prevent you stealing from them, it's your responsibility to stop stealing. This could not be any simpler.