Lost in Translation

My post over at DrakNet sparked some thoughts from my friend at Three Moons Media.

She wrote this article in response. She addresses what to do if you do find an image you want to use when using Google image search. She points out that the images are not entirely off limits, but that there is a way to go about using them: ask. Marilyn gives you other options for finding free images too.

Also, Marilyn further discusses copyright and points you to some excellent articles addressing copyright and copyright myths. Check it out!

I’m overdue for another post. Things get hairy when you run a business from home, have infant twins, and the air conditioning goes out. In many parts of the country, that’s not a big deal in May, but in Texas it can be HOT! We have babies and ferrets, so it meant several days of little work, no fun, and no sleep.

Meanwhile, here is a post I originally wrote for DrakNet that was posted April 30, 2010.

I thought I’d share it here for those that may not follow the DrakNet blog and also because this site is basically an extended FAQ covering issues I deal with all the time from clients. Google image search and copyright are recurring themes in my line of work.

I get a lot of images from clients to put on websites. Because I like to educate and protect my clients, I am prone to asking, “Where did you get this from?”

More often than not, the response is: “Google’s free image search”.

Let me clear up a common misconception: the image search on Google is not a repository of free images for everyone. What Google is doing is searching images on other people’s websites and showing those images to you. These are images that are protected by copyright law.

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All web designers run across this at some point: a client has created something to sell and they want to make sure it won’t get stolen when they put it online.

Visual art, audio, video, poems, how-to’s, blogs, and other such materials are what we call IP or intellectual property. There is a lot of exaggeration and paranoia surrounding these items and the potential for theft/piracy.

Yes, there are means to prevent theft but none of it is 100% foolproof.

Here are a few facts about managing IP online

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This is a subject that doesn’t occur to most website owners. Not until they’ve unwittingly done something to attract the attention of a person with a lawyer. Or maybe even after their host has shut their site down.

A fair number of website owners even think they understand the legalities of owning a website. And again are surprised when a sticky situation appears.

You don’t have to go through that headache. So let’s arm you with some information about your website.

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