So that Dave doesn't think I'm a loser :-), I'll throw in my two cents: I agree with the SPORRS majority that we should be protecting our photos against copyright infringment, so I won't rehash what everyone has said. I haven't had a chance yet to check Rick's site, but I will. I'm probably OK since I haven't posted hardly any photos to the Internet anyway.
I've found this to be a very relevant discussion that I can read from both sides of the fence, since I run a web site that contains, among other things, a couple hundred train photos, mostly contributed by others. Forunately for me, the great majority of my photos are sent to me directly by contributors, so they are sent to me with the explicit intent of being posted on my web site. For the ones I've retrieved from newsgroups, I e-mail the poster to get permission before using it. And after reading the following thread, I definitely will continue to do so! I'm sure that there are probably other sites out there that have used photos without permission like this. I don't think we should start a witch hunt trying to find every webmaster who might have used a photo w/o permission, for probably 90% of the time, it's probably a case of being unfamiliar with the laws, and there was no malicious intent. I know that doesn't excuse them, but I'm sure anyone in that situation would probably remove the offending photo or ask forgiveness and permission. I know I would if I was in that situation. But after reading Rick's replies to Dave on this issue, I'm not so sure that he falls into that 90%. But who am I to judge.... Later, -Jer -> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs
