I might be a thief!

I just read an article about how much theft is taking place on the internet. I think I'm guilty.

Photographers are having their images stolen and placed on blogs and myspace and even on printed marketing materials. This is being done through the very common "right-click, save picture as..." mechanism.

I know many of you go to Google images or something similar for pictures to illustrate your blog or home pages, well... now you know. Apparently using images that are not yours is theft. It's punishable by up to $150,000 per incident! And how do you know if it is not yours? Did you or someone you know take it? Did you purchase it? If the answer is no, it's theft.

I always thought that if it was on the web, it's fair game. Not true. And this is not an incidental problem either. Professional photographers estimate that 90% of the usage of their photos is unauthorized. They are being paid nothing for their art. Think about that one artists! Would you be O.K. with your song or painting being used rampantly without your permission?

So, now that I know, I'm responsible for that knowledge. I'll be going to istockphoto.com or sxc.hu for my images. For the quality needed for the web, it's only about a dollar on istock and free at sxc.hu.

By the way, the image at the top is paid for. You may NOT use it!