What Are The Issues Around Blogging and Pictures?

You really don't want to get sued by someone because you are using their (hard earned) pictures on your site (copyright), especially if you're making some kind of money from the site.  But there are times that you just have to post some kind of picture because a blog without pictures can be unattractive and even a bore to read.  Well, I was able to dig up some articles about this and will share them with you.

Here's an article about the need to consider copyright:
http://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/the-principle-of-fair-use-and-image-usage-for-bloggers/

It comes down to permission.  When putting up the pictures online, the author would have given or implied whether they give you permission (full or part) or not. Partial permission can be anything from non-profit use only to an embedded link.  And the safest thing to do is to ask the author.

Here are the basics on copyright:
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/blogbasics/6.4

This site basically covers definitions.

I also read in another site that a lot of it is contextual, depending on the nature of usage.  You can Google this, if you are interested in finding out more.

Hope this helps!

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RESOURCES

Free image sites (please see Terms of Service for each):
I Can Has Cheezburger
Flickr (Creative Commons)
Deviant Art
iStockphoto
BigStockPhoto
Stock.xchng
Wylio
morgueFile
IMDb (movies, etc.)
Stockvault
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Wikimedia Commons
MS Office Image Gallery
Corbis Images
Photos.com
Fotolia

For videos (note that some be be removed after being posted):
YouTube
Vimeo

Columbia University Libraries checklist.