Using images under Public Domain licensing

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   Phyllis Doyleposted 14 years ago

   I have been writing articles on internet sites for over two years. I often use images that are in the Public Domain. I keep copies of the licensing  code for each image I use. In one of my hubs, "Suffer the Youth of Pennhurst", I used 2 images from Public Domain. I received a comment from and "unverified" person who asked me to not use her image without her permission and asked me to remove the image, which I did. I also deleted the comment. My question is: has anyone else had this problem and how would you have handled it? I am now thinking I should have tried to contact the person to let her know it was in public domain and asked her to verify that it was her image. How would you have handled this? I just panicked and removed the image without questioning the poster. Her name is not even on the licensing code for image in wikipedia. But I would rather be safe than sorry.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I received an email from a belly dancer whose image I got from Wikipedia.  I removed the image and also replied to let her know where I got the picture.   
      
      Someone had taken her photo at a festival as part of a troupe, then made a close-up of just her - she was surprised to hear it was on Wikipedia and grateful to me for letting her know.

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   Website Examinerposted 14 years ago

   It is not only a legal issue, but also a PR issue. If you had done your research, you could stand firm, but it would distract your attention from other things. Also, there is no absolute certainty that the public domain records are accurate; to ascertain this would require extensive research. Digital images are easily altered, and a modified version of a public domain image may be subject to copyright. Add to this the problem of dealing with a complete stranger. I think you did the right thing.

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      Phyllis Doyleposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for the advice. I guess I did do the right thing when looking at all the research involved in trying to contest the issue. Good advice. Thanks again!

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   tritrainposted 14 years ago

   Well, you could always join allposters and art.com.  Use their pics for free and you may also make some money too. 

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      Phyllis Doyleposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      tritrain, I did not know about allposters and art.com. Thanks for the info -- I will look into that.

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      GmaGoldieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Allposters and art.com I love those sites - have used them extensively when I first began and lately I have been on bing.com. 
      
      Also, Bing provides all the sizes and all the locations of the photos. Just click more sizes and they will compile a complete listing with the photo size detailed next to it.  Bing is not yet the most comprehensive but they are growing.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         GmaGoldie, how do you link to the site when you use allposters and art.com?  You do know you're not allowed to use those images unless you link back to them?
         
         I can't see any facility on the Bing Image Search to filter for Creative Commons or Public Domain photos.  Bing Image Search is just the same as the basic Google Image Search - most of the photos are copyright and you can't use them.

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