Copyright Infringements

[SmallTown]

The original notion was just to be able to share information. Which is what you're doing with embedding picture links in posts here... The whole www thing has just bastardized the initial purpose of the internet. What a shame. I guess whenever commercial entities get involved in anything, the entire scope changes.

[vraiblonde]

Originally posted by SmallTown
I guess whenever commercial entities get involved in anything, the entire scope changes.

I think of the Internet like I think of any other media. There are costs involved in putting the information out. I know what our costs are on this lil ol' website - can't even imagine the overhead with Wash Post or CNN's sites.

[Admin]

It seems like there might be a bit of confusion regarding the linking to images on other websites.

The complaint we received was regarding an in-line image, i.e. one that displays in-line with the post such as the one below.

http://somd.com/photos/space/tn_01-pia03707.jpg

This is an in-line image. Everytime the page is loaded, the image is displaying from another website. In this example, it is our website so it's OK. If it were someone else's website, they would be getting hit with the bandwidth bill everytime someone reads this post.

The other problems with displaying in-line images are:

- All you see is the image - you have no idea who owns it, i.e. proper credit has not been given to the author.
- The owner may not have approved it's use on other websites. The way the image appears in-line with the post makes it appear like it is the work of the post's author. This could lead to a claim of copyright infringement.
- If the owner is relying on advertising to fund his site, this method of linking potentially deprives him of that revenue.

On the other hand, we know of nothing wrong with just posting the URL to the *page* on the site that contains the image like this:

http://somd.com/photos/space/

Note that we say page and not a direct url to the image itself such as:

http://somd.com/photos/space/tn_01-pia03707.jpg

While that is certainly not illegal, it does potentially deprive the pubisher of any credit or advertising revenue that might be gained from someone viewing the entire page where the image is displayed as intended by the author. They call this DEEP LINKING and there have actually been lawsuits about it - although primarily between competing companies.