How safe is Google image search for “free to use or share even commercially”?

  • Hi all,

    Today I heard some horror stories of the suing copyright business (didn’t know it was a business, gullible me).

    I heard some companies first make copyrighted pictures, and then share later on that picture without copyright.
    People finding later pictures are led to believe it’s safe, only be to be sued a few months later.

    So I wanted to ask: is Google image search with “free to use or share even commercially” 100% foolproof when it comes to using pictures for your website?

    Thank you in advance!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

  • So I wanted to ask: is Google image search with “free to use or share even commercially” 100% foolproof

    No, it’s not 100% foolproof.

    Unless you can verify the licensing of an image with the people who created it, you should assume that it’s copyrighted and not available to share commercially.

    No, it is not. Nothing is 100% foolproof in that regard. If you can’t verify the author of the photo, and then verify that the author has shared it online in a way that frees it of copyright in one way or another (Creative Commons, e.g.) then you simply do not know if it is copyright free or not.

    If you are looking for a source with clear attribution and sources then try Wikimedia Commons – they have good clear language concerning copyright on all their images.

    Thread Starter lucio7

    (@lucio7)

    Damn, thank you guys, much much appreciated.

    Suppose need to hunker down and re-run searches for all the pics I used.

    Do you use any specific method to find what’s the copyright of a picture (ie.: search the picture online.. ? )

    Do you use any specific method to find what’s the copyright of a picture (ie.: search the picture online.. ?

    That can be quite difficult.

    If I need images, I generally search for ones that are explicitly in the public domain or use Creative Commons licenses.

    There are some resources in the links below:

    https://wptavern.com/13-sources-for-free-public-domain-and-cc0-licensed-images

    https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org/

    Thread Starter lucio7

    (@lucio7)

    Thank you!

    One last question: imagine you had used many images on your website and now you wanted to check which one are Creative Common and which are not.

    How would you suggest to go about?
    Upload them on Google Image search and check the oldest date ones if it was Creative Common?

    I’m afraid you’re not going to find any quick and easy way to do this.

    Google Image search may find other versions of your images but it will not always reliably tell you the actual author of the image.

    As before, unless you have verified the author of the image, and then verified that the author has shared the image online with a limited copyright of some sort (whether free for all or conditional), you cannot know if the image is truly copyright or not.

    Copyright (at least in the US) happens upon creation – an artist does not need to register their creation with any entity or organization to claim copyright. There are no definitive records concerning such.

    • This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by homemadejam.
    Thread Starter lucio7

    (@lucio7)

    Thank you!

    What I am doing from now on is:

    -Going for CC0 with an open eye whenever possible (Pixabay seems great for that)
    -Going for vectorial images whenever possible
    -Avoiding pictures of clearly recognizable people whenever possible and getting my own camera for that
    -For Flickr referencing, thanking them in a public message with a link to my post (also good for SEO ?? for full transparency
    -Using ImageInject plugin to save time

    • This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by lucio7.
Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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