Is it illegal to use pictures from the net?
What pictures are you allowed to get from the net? Is there restrictions? Lets say I googled a celebrity's name and I pulled a picture from the image results. Can I use that picture in my hubs?
You can use any picture, but some of them are subject to copyright and infringement of such copyrights can lead to legal proceedings if the image owner feels that you are using the pictures for commercial purposes.
I used pictures of Brian May and Brian was kind enough to let me have the pictures taken free of charge, just by mentioning his website.
Gibson and Fender were also forthcoming, but others are not so free with their images, requiring a fee for images that are free of watermarks.
For others, I have accredited the source or taken the pictures myself.
In my opinion, it's best to ask.
It is important to remember that pictures are the property of the photographer. As soon as you take a picture, it is copyrighted. I am no expert on the law, however, most images on the internet are licensed. If you use the pictures in a hub, it is considered for commercial purposes. If you use a picture that is licensed, then the owner of the picture retains rights that make you liable. Here are a couple of hubs that will help:
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Legally- … -Your-Hubs
http://hubpages.com/hub/Can-I-Use-This-Photo
Even if it's not marked as copyrighted, a copyright may still apply...much like a copyright applies to our written work whether we actually mark it as copyrighted or not. Always ask the site owner where the picture appears if you can use that picture or you may be subject to reprimand and/or legal action, unless the terms of license are already spelled out on the site. I personally stick to Wikimedia Commons, pictures I've taken myself, and pictures that have been offered to me by acquaintances in response to requests.
You have to get permission to use someones pictures or you can go to certain sites that are for the purpose of using and sharing. You still cannot call them your own, but you list the source. Many places on the web that are for that purpose but to take a picture off of someones website is not okay. if you google photo sharing, like flicker...is it? I forget the name but just google free picture use sites and it will tell you. It's kind of like clip art but not drawings. Some clip art you have to buy and others are free. Pictures are a bit different especially of people or companies, but plenty of places are there for the purpose to be able to use and just list the source.
It is best to use your own photo but there are also photos available on the net that is not subject to copyright and convenient to use with permission, just to be sure...
Photographs are subject to copyright in the same way that an article is owned by the author. So you have to seek permission from the owner to reproduce the photograph.
Alternatively seek out websites which expressly permit you to publish photographs. However read the terms of any licence given as there may be restrictions.
by Janis Leslie Evans 12 years ago
I took pics with my camera of images on my tv screen. Is it legal to use them? Edited? Specifically, is it illegal to use them in monetized hubs?
by Ronald E Franklin 8 years ago
I'm planning a hub about one particular actor in one particular scene of a movie. Without a visual representation of the actor in the scene the article would be meaningless, but no free or non-copyrighted photos appear to exist. To me this seems a classic case for Fair Use, as reflected in this...
by Mazzy Bolero 12 years ago
What sites offer downloads of your hub pictures without your permission and what do you do?After the new Google Algorithm I tried searching google for my name on Hubpages and after seeing all my comments listed, but only one hub, I came across a site called "realmadridwallpapers.org"...
by NotPC 10 years ago
HubPages is very firm in their rule to only use photos for which you have permission to use. Hypothetically, what happens if you break this rule? I've seen many people using images that are clearly not theirs to use and I was just wondering if this affects them in any way...
by Catherine Giordano 10 years ago
I'm very confused. I learned on the forum that I could use the google images tool to filter for art that was free to use. When I use the filter, pictures from "deviantart" come up frequently. When I go to the page, I don't see anything except a copyright notice. However,...
by OrangeCast 16 years ago
Another question regarding HubPages protocal and general legalities...How do we know if an image is copyrighted? Is it imperative that we use sites like freefoto.com or use only our own pictures, or can we include pictures saved or linked from, for instance, a google image search? This...
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |