Getty makes 35 million photos free to use

[Earth_First]

Getty Images, the world's largest photo agency, has made vast swathes of its library free to use, in an effort to combat piracy.

Millions of images - including famous shots of Marilyn Monroe and Barack Obama - will now be available without cost to blogs and social media sites.

The photos will be "framed" with a code that links back to Getty's website.

Getty said it had made the move after realising thousands of its images were being used without attribution.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26463886

[pipoman]

1. The Getty Center is a national treasure. ..

[frazzled]

2. But Getty Images isn't related to it

It's a commercial stock-photo business, based in Seattle.

[Boom Sound 416]

3. Mixed feelings.

Great to see more photos become Public Domain.

Sorry to see those photographers lose any residuals.

[Ed Suspicious]

5. No mixed feelings. As a photographer I can say this is complete shit.

[Boom Sound 416]

6. I feel you

It's a real world out there that very few know about.

Spent some years in news gathering and made a lot of stills friends. (Except when I have to put sticks down )

[thesquanderer]

7. Not public domain

"Free to use" is not the same as public domain.

They are also apparently limiting the free use to "blogs and social media site" and even then, they have certain requirements about the use:

" Images cannot be resized and they will all incorporate a Getty Images logo, as well as a credit for the photographer.

Like YouTube, the company may use the code to serve advertisements in the future, allowing it to make revenue by sharing its catalogue."

[Boom Sound 416]

8. I'll admit. I made a comment without reading the article, but

Now that I've read the article, my opinion remains the same for now, as it seems the move has very little to do with ensuring and protecting residuals.

Do I have that right? (My cynicism gets the better of me sometimes)

[jsr]

4. "In essence, it is admitting defeat."

[MineralMan]

9. I wouldn't use them, frankly.

I don't like depending on some other website to serve images. There's always a delay, which can't be determined, and may be long, depending on Internet Traffic and bandwidth availability.