Photo Copyright

I usually attribute a photo however I re-host the image as I feel that it would be unfair to waste someone else's bandwith...

 

I have just found out the picture was taken from a web cam, does that make a difference?

 

Good point.

Nope. If someone "originates" something (writes an article/book, takes a photograph, draws a painting, etc.) then they have copyright on that (unless/until they assign the copyright to someone else). They don't need to do anything (like filing a Patent), but they can put a copyright notice on it - bit like a "keep off the grass" sign, it makes it more clear that the Author places a values on that work.

However, this is what is "required" not what is "practised"

If you are at all bothered best bet would be to ask if the usage you are putting it to is OK with the original author/artist. They'll probably be flattered

 

Even if it's marked with the copyright symbol?

 

No usually if it's watermarked then I don't include the photo as I can see the owner really doesent want it used... and if it's the only one I can find then I will post a link to the actual site

 

My photo's are so amaturist, I'd feel a tad pleased if someone thought they were good enough to use

The only time I've used someone else's work (and even that is only the past month) is to link a "birthday" picture. (I can't even draw "hangman", so without linking to someone else, I'd be stuffed! )

Food for thought and a great thread topic!

 

I mean I download there photo and then put it on something like photobucket

 

Sorry Aesculus I think Shiney was confused with" Bandwidth"

Bandwidth is what each website owner pays for and can vary depending upon who hosts your website.

For instance I pay for 5 gb per month and if I go beyond that I have to pay for it, a bit like an overdraft if you like.

What happens every time someone visits my website they use up a bit of the bandwidth I am paying for.

So if someone is using my picture and link it to my website then I pay for the visits but if they download it to their website or a site like Photobucket then this source pays for the visit.

This is why you some times see a webmaster stating if you want to use this picture please feel free to use it but do not link to my website for it.

As I mentioned above I found someone selling my picture so I was paying for someone looking at my picture and the thief getting paid for it.

To make sure I would not get charged for it again I deleted the picture from my computer.

But that's not say that other pictures I have on my website are being used in this manner.

The way I found out about it in the first place was because of the stats I receive from my host when they showed one picture getting viewed more than others and this led me to the thief.

Because of these practices and the fact i can not do much about it,I keep an eye open for pictures getting visits from unknown sources.

So if you like I am one of the " Big Brother" brigade and I have my beady eye on you

I hope that helps to clarify another factor in this issue...Tg

 

Yup.

However, if you download a picture from XYZ Site and upload it to GC then GC is "paying" everytime someone views the page. So you've only transferred the cost, so to speak.

Linking the image from XYZ Site means that they are paying

("Paying" is only going to be measurable, in practical terms, if the thing is viewed A LOT - millions of times - or the object itself is huge (very high definition images - which GC won't allow you to upload anyway ...)

So linking to an image when you are recommending something is perfect IMHO

(On a technical note the creator of a website can prevent images being linked from another site, i.e. make them only viewable if they are "requested" from a page on the owner's site itself, so anyone feeling particularly strongly could do that ... or even provide a "This was stolen" image instead of the original whenever it is "requested" from an external site. Few sites bother to do that though ...)