Are there copyright issues with adding a hyperlink to someone else’s photograph?
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If I find a photo that I like on someone else’s website and I want to add a hyperlink to it from a blog post, but only show the image itself (not the page that the image originated from)… is it ok to do the following:
(1) Right-click the image
(2) Select “view image info”
(3) Copy the URL for the image and hyperlink to it from my blogThis will mean that when someone clicks on the hyperlink, the page that comes up will only show the photo and not the surrounding text etc on the page that would have normally shown up if I hyperlinked to the original page.
Is it ok to do this? Technically I’m not claiming the work as my own and if people look at the URL that the hyperlink takes them to, then they will note they’ve been taken to a different website.
Just wanted to know if I’m infringing any copyright laws etc.
Thanks for your help,
leanne888http://newzealandholidaybliss.wordpress.com/
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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It is considered extremely bad form to do that. It’s called hotlinking and in some cases people pay for the bandwidth they use, so you’re using their bandwidth. It’s not a copyright issue, it’s that you could end up costing them a lot of money.
the BEST policy is to ask permission before using an image, then copy it and upload it to your webspace, and when you post it, make the image a link back to the page you got it from.
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Yeah I agree with Raincoaster. As a photographer, and someone who has done a LOT with pictures on the internet, it’s always best to ask permission to use your images on a differnet website. If you are granted permission, save the image and upload it on a different website (you could use image hosting sites like tinypic.com or photobucket.com – you don’t need an account to upload on tinypic but you will need to register for photobucket). This way you won’t be using the other persons bandwidth.
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Another reason why it’s better to upload the pictures to your blog, as raincoaster says, is that your pages will load slower if they include images hosted elsewhere.
@rain: Since visitors won’t necessarily click on images, I think a linking credit below a pic is even better than making the pic itself a link to the source.
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Thanks everyone.
I don’t want to clutter up my blog posts with lots of pictures (I already include a gallery) but still want to make pictures of things like the kitchen, lounge or bedrooms of specific accommodations available via hyperlinks for those who are interested. They don’t really cut it as gallery pics, in my opinion :)
In future, I will contact photograph owners and ask permission to copy and upload them to my blog.
Thanks again for helping me avoid stepping on anyone’s toes :)
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It’s more than stepping on toes. I pay for bandwidth and woe betide anyone who hotlinks to my images on my personal blog. I will be on them like an angry bear and their reputation will be at stake throughout the blogosphere. That’s why I’m so happy to hear that you will be asking for permission – goof on you! :)
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Thanks Timethief… I just had that “nagging” feeling about it and thought I’d better check it out first… coz it just seemed too good to be true. And, whaddaya know… it was too good to be true. Hotlinking = bad form. Lesson learned :)
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@leanne888
lol … above I typed “goof on you! ” so thanks for graciously interpreting that typo the way it was meant to be which was “good on you!” -
Pana is right, not only will the pictures load faster if they’re on your own site, but sometimes someone else’s site goes down and then your blog has a hole in it.
He’s also right that a text credit and link is better than a clickable picture, it’s just that I’m damn lazy.
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Timethief… might’ve been a freudian slip??? lol. I figured it out after havin’ a little giggle to myself.
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