Hi, I want to start advertising my image hosting site using free dating sites & myspace... in order to do that, I would get images of guys/girls around the web, upload them on my image host then create my profiles using them. Would this be legal? Anyone here doiing this? Thanks, Prookle
advertising on myspace and other sites can be a good marketing technique, depending on the site and traffic you are looking for. as for getting images off the web, i wouldn't suggest it, but to each his own.
In general, no, you can't do this. You can't just find images on the Web and use them (copyright infringement), especially if they're images of people, because you would need a model release from them. If you're talking about buying images of people from stock photo sites... well, I don't know that it would be "illegal", but more than likely it's against the TOS. Most stock photo sites won't allow you to use images that you purchase if they're of people, and your use makes it look like that person in any way actually uses, supports, or endorses your site. The company would probably ban your account, but you'd risk being sued by the model in the image, b/c they didn't give you permission to use their likeness to promote your service, and agreements with the stock photo company probably just serve to keep them from being liable if you misuse them... not you. Jenn
I would start by finding out whether there's a market for image hosting - and what people who used the service would need it for Hosting today is to cheap that it would easier for anyone just to put any images they need hosted onto their own webspace However what you suggest of grabbing other peoples images and storing them on your own webspace, is probably not in itself illegal. It depends what you are going to do with the images when they are on your webspace. You would also need to allow for people wanting to remove their images The thing you need to be aware of is Copyright and Privacy - both of the person whoose image you have "grabbed" and of the site you have "grabbed" the image from. Generally images cannot be used without permission However the starting place for you in this situation is to decide what the business case is for what you want to offer to the internet community, rather than diving straight into the marketing side
In general, the way you are going to approach is illegal. Instead include a feature to upload personal photos in your web site and then market that feature. There are lot of sites doing this. So, you have to be creative. webgaya.
I already know what I market. My site is a forum where members can upload their pictures in galleries... here is some examples: http://prookle.com/vbimghost.php?do=viewimages&id=3 http://prookle.com/vbimghost.php?do=viewimages&id=2 I already did a test and made 2 galleries and posted them on forums, and it brought me 2k unique ... for 10 minutes of work. Also, I don't plan to market the site to webmasters, but to internet users. People on the internet do not want webspace...they want an easy way to dump their pictures to show them to others. Thanks, Prookle