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Will I get in trouble?

by Tariqsal
38 replies
Hey guys,

On my blogs, I use images from google in my posts.

I've read from many different sources that you can face copyright issues for that and
can even face jail time.

It got me thinking. If my blog becomes popular, how likely am I to get in trouble?

I don't have money to buy stock images, any suggestions for what to do?
#trouble
  • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
    You cannot use images freely like that.

    First - Do a search on the forum for "FREE IMAGES",
    You will get threads with lots of Free Image resources.

    Second - You will need to replace all those images with suitable free images as soon as possible.

    Third - You can make your own images by using an art program or Paint.

    Fourth - Scrap images and use youtube videos - Google loves that!
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    • Profile picture of the author Tariqsal
      Thanks,
      The you tube video solution might be my best bet.

      But they're soo many images I have to edit. Is the risk worth the trouble?
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      • Profile picture of the author JC Web
        Originally Posted by Tariqsal View Post

        Thanks,
        The you tube video solution might be my best bet.

        But they're soo many images I have to edit. Is the risk worth the trouble?
        Well you are the only one that can decide if the risk is worth the trouble.

        How about taking responsibility for what you've done wrong and fixing it because it is the right thing to do instead of feeling sorry for yourself about the work it will involve.

        Also, you should take that link out of your signature if you can't afford the few dollars it takes to buy stock photos.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lance K
    Originally Posted by Tariqsal View Post

    I don't have money to buy stock images, any suggestions for what to do?
    You could go make $347.27 instantly (per your sig) and then buy yourself some stock images.
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    "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
    ~ Zig Ziglar
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Originally Posted by Tariqsal View Post

    I don't have money to buy stock images, any suggestions for what to do?
    Wouldn't the $347.27 that you can make almost instantly that you are advertising in your signature help buy stock images?

    Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author Tariqsal
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      Wouldn't the $347.27 that you can make almost instantly that you are advertising in your signature help buy stock images?

      Mark
      Nah, I use it for more important things like SEO.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
        Originally Posted by Tariqsal View Post

        Nah, I use it for more important things like SEO.
        Kewl beans. Just be careful to not do your SEO too well and mess up and get a lot of traffic and then get fined and go to jail as you say for using stolen pictures.

        On the other hand if the money you make is so instant and you do it even though you are lazy, it seems you could exert just a tiny bit more effort and get licensed pictures.

        Mark
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      • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
        Public Domain Pictures - Free Stock Photos
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      • Profile picture of the author Cali16
        Originally Posted by Tariqsal View Post

        Nah, I use it for more important things like SEO.
        Sure you do...

        It never ceases to amaze me that people have income claims in their sig links and then start threads like this - and think no one will put 2 + 2 together...
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        • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
          Friendly suggestion: I'd consider temporarily taking that sig out or hope this thread goes to page 3 real fast ...before the real mean guys see it.

          So far everyone's been nice. Some guys and gals here will have no mercy on your soul for the double-message you're sending out. When they smell blood they're like hungry Sharks, it'll be like a feeding frenzy for real!
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          • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
            Originally Posted by The Niche Man View Post

            Friendly suggestion: I'd consider temporarily taking that sig out or hope this thread goes to page 3 real fast ...before the real mean guys see it.

            So far everyone's been nice. Some guys and gals here will have no mercy on your soul for the double-message you're sending out. When they smell blood they're like hungry Sharks, it'll be like a feeding frenzy for real!
            You and I disagree more than we agree but I literally chuckled out loud here while eating my lunch at Subway when I read this. Well played, sir.
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            • Profile picture of the author Kay King
              Use of free-to-use images is not the point of the thread - The OP KNOWS about copyright - but his excuse is "can't afford images" so his concern is not about what is right/wrong/paid/free - he asks:

              how likely am I to get in trouble?

              Is the risk worth the trouble?
              When I see someone posting "I know this is unethical/illegal/wrong but I'm doing it - will I get caught..."

              My answer: "Hope so"
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      • Profile picture of the author Lance K
        Originally Posted by Tariqsal View Post

        Nah, I use it for more important things like SEO.
        Why would you ever need SEO? I'd think repeating the magic process would be more important. Let's see...instant cash or time, money, & energy spent on trying to keep the search engines happy? Pretty easy choice for a self proclaimed lazy guy I'd imagine.
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        "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
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      • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Tariqsal View Post

        Nah, I use it for more important things like SEO.
        Yeah, I guess SEO is more important than strong business ethics and a personal moral code.

        Cheers. - Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author HamzaW
    Definitely best to invest in some stock images, but failing that there are some images on Google that you can use for your own website.

    In the search results page, click the cog (settings) button and then click Advanced Search. There is a field called "usage rights". Select "free to use or share, even commercially" and then perform your search again.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tariqsal
      I changed the wording on my signature to get rid of confusion. Since putting " A lazy guy" to signify how easy it was and "Almost instantly" to signify the short time it took caused confusion.
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      • Profile picture of the author Lance K
        Originally Posted by Tariqsal View Post

        I changed the wording on my signature to get rid of confusion. Since putting " A lazy guy" to signify how easy it was and "Almost instantly" to signify the short time it took caused confusion.
        It wasn't confusion and it wasn't because of the wording. The message isn't congruent. If your sig file claim was legit, you wouldn't be talking about not having money to spend on stock images. That's all.
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        "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
        ~ Zig Ziglar
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  • Profile picture of the author troy23
    There are plenty of sites where you can buy images that you can legally use on your site.
    I've used Big Stock Photo in the past and found it to be a very good service.
    It's not worth taking the risk these days, especially if you are unfortunate enough to put a photo owned by Getty Images on your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author vishwa
    When you search images in Google be sure that you filter your search result with free to use option. However if you still use images than don't forget to put a link back the original producer. You can also ask the image producer that you did like add his/her image to your blog by giving credit to them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fantasticant
    I'm smiling a little at the references to $347.27 .. let him make his mistakes boys ;-)

    If you are looking for a way to use Getty images without paying, they recently changed their business model and now allow bloggers to embed their images - as long as you use their system which also adds a small advert into your page I think:

    Getty Images
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    • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
      Originally Posted by Fantasticant View Post

      I'm smiling a little at the references to $347.27 .. let him make his mistakes boys ;-)

      If you are looking for a way to use Getty images without paying, they recently changed their business model and now allow bloggers to embed their images - as long as you use their system which also adds a small advert into your page I think:

      Getty Images
      The only thing about that is:
      After their "take over" of images online and their strong armed tactics in pursuing and hunting down all of those struggling bloggers who didn't know any better at the time, I am remiss at sending them any love now that they realize that they need "us" to grow their "now" honest business.

      They're using fiverr (another one) to force sales now too on all of us!

      I am a rebel at heart for most of my life. I say don't patronize any platform or business that took aim and sunk a fellow marketer.

      We can go out and take our own pictures, get someone to do it for us, get someone to photoshop or MSPaint for us and use only organic FREE images.

      Support the creation and proliferation of FREE images!
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      • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
        Banned
        Originally Posted by professorrosado View Post

        Support the creation and proliferation of FREE images!
        Right, because photographers don't deserve to be compensated for their investment in equipment nor the time it takes to produce and edit images that you would like to use for free.

        People with your attitude is precisely what is wrong with the world.

        Cheers. - Frank
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        • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
          What exactly is wrong with this society, Frank?
          There is nothing wrong with FREE images.

          If you support forcing people to pay when they could easily get an image for free - is that supposed to be intelligent?
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          • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
            Banned
            Originally Posted by professorrosado View Post

            What exactly is wrong with this society, Frank? There is nothing wrong with FREE images.
            Agreed - as long as folks don't expect that they should be able to use my images for free. No one gave my my photography equipment for free.
            If you support forcing people to pay when they could easily get an image for free - is that supposed to be intelligent?
            This is not about intelligence - it's about honesty. Seems like people think that because they find an image on the Internet, regardless of any copyright implications, they should be allowed to use it at will. That's called stealing - regardless in how you try to get around it.

            I have no problem with free images. I do have a problem with folks misappropriating non-free images for their own commercial use and rationalizing why it's OK to do it.

            Hopefully I have made my position clear. :-)

            Cheers. - Frank
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        • Profile picture of the author arojilla
          Originally Posted by BigFrank View Post

          Right, because photographers don't deserve to be compensated for their investment in equipment nor the time it takes to produce and edit images that you would like to use for free.

          People with your attitude is precisely what is wrong with the world.

          Cheers. - Frank
          He's talking about free images. If they are already free by their nature or because the author so chose (public domain, non restrictive Creative Commons...), what's wrong?

          And to the OP, not only Google, but you can filter Flickr by license too and there are many free images there, free as in you can use them, even commercially. You usually have to give credit to the author (name and link to original work are standard) but I think that's a fair trade off.
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          [...]

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      • Profile picture of the author Fantasticant
        I like it professorrosado .. Revolution! ... Overthrow the evil stock image companies, and let their their millions of images run free!!

        The army of the twelve monkeys - but with images. I like it, where do I sign?

        I do pay for images, for the reasons Frank stated above about paying the creator - and because I don't want to be prosecuted in the future. Perhaps the revolution you suggest should start with popularising sources of images which are truly royalty free - as many people find the maze of different licensing models a little confusing.

        Centralising some of these truly free sources, and making understanding the licensing easier for people, would be a practical way to build a real alternative to companies like Getty images.
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  • Profile picture of the author rmbd2012
    Originally Posted by Tariqsal View Post

    Hey guys,

    On my blogs, I use images from google in my posts.
    I've read from many different sources that you can face copyright issues for that and can even face jail time.
    It got me thinking. If my blog becomes popular, how likely am I to get in trouble?
    I don't have money to buy stock images, any suggestions for what to do?
    Before using any other photo, you have to read their terms & conditions. If the image is copyright protected, you are not able to use this kind of image. it is very sensitive.

    There are many site where there is no copyright issue, you can use this kind of images.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnnyFanta
    Getty images came after me once because I used a thumbnail of an image from some museum on some backend street in Paris. The amount of money they were looking for was extortionate so we went on a merry go round exchanging letters. And eventually it stopped.

    But yes theycan come after you on copyright grounds.
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  • Profile picture of the author peare7
    I recommend that you use Public Domain images. They are easy to find. Go to Wikipedia and search for "Public Domain Image Resources" and you will find a long list of websites that have Public Domain images. Some also have copyrighted images too so be vigilant about this.
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    "Most people, sometime in their lives, stumble across truth. Most jump up, brush themselves off, and hurry on about their business as if nothing had happened." (Winston Churchill)

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  • Profile picture of the author safrasolutions
    You're not going to jail for a civil matter. Having said that, there are lots of images sites out there. Check out dollarphotoclub.com. They have nice pics.
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  • Profile picture of the author leilani
    Not unless they find your site! Just kidding.

    If they are copyrighted, they may give you a cease and desist warning first. Then you have to take them down. I know I did once.

    But why wait? Everyone here has given you sites you can go to find images as well as ueing Youtube. Go for it!

    And guess what? You'll be able to sleep like a baby.

    Leilani
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  • Profile picture of the author AuthorityBuilder
    Originally Posted by Tariqsal View Post

    Hey guys,

    On my blogs, I use images from google in my posts.

    I've read from many different sources that you can face copyright issues for that and
    can even face jail time.

    It got me thinking. If my blog becomes popular, how likely am I to get in trouble?

    I don't have money to buy stock images, any suggestions for what to do?
    You can use Royalty free images on your blog so as not to face any copyright issues. Do an advanced search on Google and from the dropdown, choose images that can be used commercially.
    Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author johnmuck123
    There are some Images which is copyright protected, these images is not allowed to use anyone. So you have to read the terms & conditions of the images before using the images. There are many images, where there is no copyright issue. So you will be able to use that images without any problem. Thanks
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