Hey, On an auction site I am working on, a user can create an advertisement. With this ad, a user can specify the URL of an image, which my script then downloads, resizes, and displays next to their ad. I have also made a nifty script, which looks like a nice gallery of clipart images, like you get in MS Word. Based on the keywords in the users ad, the script scours google images using those keywords, and fetches the images that are returned by google for those keywords.... I then present these images in a gallery to the user, who can select the image they want next to their ad. Then, I fetch and download the selected image onto my server to display next to their ad. What do you guys think about this? I know it is immoral, but isn't this what google are doing to other sites out there? For example, some logos that I have spent time working on, are now appearing in google images - isn't that copyright infringement? I have disabled my gallery feature for now, as I don't want google to be alerted to all the image requests which will no doubt be coming from my server....
Only you can decide if it's immoral or not. Sure, google doesn't want you to have automated queries done to it and it even claims so. However, they wont even bother enforcing that since its hardly an issue. I think it's a great idea and seen many users actually have services that do the exact same. Another thing is that you are only using google to 'find' the images, you are not taking any of them from google since they dont own them in the first place. Also just to add that you shouldnt look at things in a way of two wrongs making a right type of thing as you tried to explain in your statement. I think you are fine in your practice and you should continue with your own business and not let anyone stick their nose into it saying otherwise unless its further problems with google of course if that will ever happen.
If you think it's immoral, don't do it. Not only could it be immoral, but it could be illegal, and you could be liable for damages, court costs, etc. That said, based on the facts you give, I'm not sure that it is either immoral or illegal; you are encouraged to research the law on this matter or consult an attorney for a detailed answer. I read the case a few weeks ago about the use of thumbnail images by an image search engine. That's the kind of case you should read to learn more about what courts take into account when deciding these issues. One thing - if you are using these images to enhance commercial listings and have no link to the underlying page which owns the images, it will look especially bad. If you are in doubt about this, I would suggest you do not do it until you have a satisfactory answer.
Thanks for the advice guys. My website is not commercial (i.e. it does not charge any visitors for anything, I'm trying to make my money purely on advertising). Nevertheless, I think I am going to give it a miss right now. Cheers.
You are the spawn of the devil! j/k It really does sound like a nifty script you've made but the general idea is frought with all sorts of copyright © issues you would be better avoiding if you can. What about the script? It seems too cool to let it sit doing nothing. Can't you adapt it for another purpose? What about Amazon Services API? Couldn't you build the script around that instead?
Cool, I've just been checking out the Amazon API - could be pretty useful. As for my script, I guess I will just ditch it and avoid getting my self into trouble.
I was thinking you could adapt the script to use the Amazon API instead. Clearly it's not the same as Google's API but perhaps the principle of fetching images based on keywords and then serving them up to a viewer could be used to good effect with Amazon? Best of all, you wouldn't be worried about copyrighted images. Nintendo is a whizz with Amazon stuff.
You just contradicted yourself. A non-commercial website does not engage in commerce. If your website is sponsored in part or whole through considerations, you are engaging in commerce and thus a commercial website. I don't know why, but there is a common misconception among small business owners and regular people that to be considered a commercial website you must be a corporation or have making money as your main and only goal. Whether or not your charge visitors is irrelevant.
Using the API isn't illegal. Making use of the images is, depending on what gets done with them. If your script allows people to post those images on their sites then they will be in infringement of copyright. The difference is that with Google, if you want to view the image, you get directed to the original page.
Using the Google API to fetch the images for commerical purposes appears to break their terms of service: google.com/apis/api_terms.html I wish they offered a commerical option for people like us. Maybe they will someday soon.