The topic came up the other night about images and whether it’s right to use images found on Google Images. My opinion on this subject is that it’s never right to take an image unless you are following it’s Creative Commons License. And if a license can’t be found, then you should ask the image owner whether or not you can use that image on your site.

I view taking an image from someone else’s site without permission or license as an act of stealing. Whether that person made the work, bought the image or found it on a free open source image site like sxc.hu, it’s their image and not yours. Don’t be a thief! Pony up a few bucks and go over to a royalty free image site if you need a high quality image for your blog.

If you want to know why most bloggers don’t make much money, this is a root cause of that. Most bloggers look for the cheap or free way to do everything no matter who they are stealing from. If someone made something you want to use, give them a buck for it or ask if you can use it. It only takes a minute to write a short email to them.

I would love to hear what you think about this subject, as it seems there are many differing opinions. Do you think it’s ok to use images that you don’t have a right to use because they are on the Internet?

{ 21 comments }