Sorry but this message is rather typical of the problem of overstatement
of copyright and attendant issues.  You don't need, under current law, to
put a copyright message on each page: you are already protected.  The use
of images depends upon many factors depending upon such issues as who made
the photo, when it was made, and what the photo shows.  Certain objects,
such as architecture, are in the public domain.  Obviously photos of
artistic type by modern photographers (Diane Arbus, Ralph Lieberman, and
on) are protected and you will have to get permission from them or the
estate's agent.  Keeping images small is basically a practical idea, and
it does not automatically protect someone who uses them without permission
from the actual copyright holders.
        Many many images are now in the public domain (setting aside for
the moment the issue of educational use).  Waivers from persons appearing
in photographs are not needed in many cases, such as crowd shots.
Watermarks are expensive and not needed in most cases.
        As a Web master/mistress, my experience has been that the greatest
danger comes from those, often in one's own educational community, who
snip out portions of one's Web site and post them as their own.  This has
happened to me several times, and at my former institution a senior
professor actually copied my entire Web site and posted it as his own.  To
me, the copying of images (actually, they are photographs) is a minor
problem compared to this.

        Adrienne DeAngelis
        [log in to unmask]

On Wed, 8 Dec 1999, Adam Brin wrote:

> As a webmaster, I can help answer this.  From a technical standpoint, you
> want to keep the images small and not very good quality.  (the smaller size
> will hide the quality issue). If you want to enlarge the images, give
> enlargements of part of the image, not the whole thing.
>
> copyright and legal issues:
> 1) If you are going to be showing pictures of people, make sure that you
> have a waiver signed by all parties involved, everyone in the picture, as
> well a the photographer.  Make sure that you stipulate clearly that the
> images will be used in the web.  Also, if you are going to use pictures of
> people under 18, you should get waivers from their parents.
>
> 2) If possible, use stock photographs, they have the best rules reproducing
> images.
>
> 3) If you have to use images of artwork, you might want to look into some
> sort of watermark, something which, you and the artist (if it is possible to
> contact the artist) agree upon.  This could be a modification of the image
> in some way, either adding / removing something.
>
> 4) finally make sure that your copyright is prominent on every page.
>
> In reality you will not be able to stop everyone from stealing your images,
> graphic designers who really want to use the image will be able to use
> Photoshop to remove any watermark.  Others might just use the image with the
> watermark.  But when the image is small and low quality, it will probably
> useless to most people.
>
> Look at the image of the camel at the bottom of this page:
> http://localhost/Departments/Anthropology/Petra/excavations/history.html
>
> now look at the image itself:
> http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/Petra/pics/Colonnaded-Street.j
> pg
>
> The image has been loaned to us by a professional photographer who is a
> friend.  We protect her work because this image in the state that it is in,
> is useless.  Too small and too little detail to be use to almost anyone.
>
> for more see this:
> http://builder.cnet.com/Business/Law/
>
> - Adam Brin
>
> _________________________________
> [log in to unmask]
> http://adam.brin.org
>
> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
>
> The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
>
> If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
> [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff
> Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff
Museum-L" (without the quotes).