Before you touch any images on my site! First and most important...you may not copy, duplicate, or use any images of my paintings or sketches in any way. These terms apply to graphics alone.
All graphics are copyrighted by Margaritas World. You are granted a non-exclusive license to use these images on your web site so long as you abide by these terms of use. And please only use images in the graphics pages. For use on a personal site, you should provide a link to my site on any publicly accessible page of the site using the graphics. You may link with text or my graphic tag.
You may not link directly to images on my server. This is why.
These images may not be included in any image archive in any medium for any purpose without prior consent.
Copyrights
Copyrights are not limited to the real world, they also apply to the Internet. Some think they can take what they find on the Internet, but it's a crime. Stealing bandwidth is also a crime. Stealing bandwidth is when you link to someone else's files on their server. This also called hot-linking. It's easy to be caught, learn more about it all here.
Unless you have permission to download an image from a web site, it is theft. Most people who wouldn't shoplift from a store don't think twice about stealing web site content. Most do it out of ignorance, but ignorance of the law, as you know, is no excuse in the eyes of the law.
Many sites like mine make it clear that there are free images available. You may use those images since permission is granted beforehand. This does not mean you can do anything you want with these images, such as using them to create your own graphics archive. The creator of the images still holds the copyright and you are granted a non-exclusive license to use them. This license does not extend to other images not included in the free archives, and may be revoked at any time.
Bandwidth Can Be Stolen Property Too
Never link to an image file, sound file, or other file types on someone else's site unless you have permission - it's a crime - and it's easy to get caught! This is called hot-linking. It is bandwidth theft because the other person's server has to send data (bandwidth transference) to your site. This slows their site and yours down, and costs them money if they go over their bandwidth allowance. This is NOT the same as linking TO someone else's site to send visitor's there. Hot-linking is calling someone else's file to your server.
Many free graphics sites get tens of thousands of visitors each week. If 1/10th of the visitors that come here linked to just one graphic on my server, in just one year I'd be paying for bandwidth used on over 100,000 sites - for people that aren't even visiting my site!
If these sites only got ten visitors a day, that's 1,000,000 times per week my bandwidth is being stolen! You can see why sites shut down because of the high cost of popularity. People like me, who provide free things for everyone's enjoyment and benefit, end up paying money out of our pocket for illegal linking. That's just not fair, to me or my visitors - because illegal linking slows down the host site for the real visitors.
Just Be Kind :-)
Graphic artists and designers do not deserve to lose their web sites because of this ever-increasing problem. Please be kind enough to allow us that give so freely to keep enjoying what we do. If not, the best graphics sites will disappear and you will have to pay for every graphic you use. No more freebies!!!
You Can Easily Be Caught!
People don't realize how easily they can be caught stealing bandwidth and images. Each time a file is called from the server, it is recorded in what is called a log file. If you link to a graphic on someone else's server, it records the web site that the file is called from, so if you link illegally to someone else's files, each time your page is accessed by anyone, that is recorded.
You may think if you signed up with a free host you can get away with it. Perhaps you used a fictitious name and address when you signed up, and even used a free email account. All that doesn't matter.
Every time you create, modify or add to a free web site, or just send an email from your computer or a free account, your IP address is logged. Your IP address can easily be tracked to your ISP, who has logs of which account has used which IP address on what date and time. You are never completely anonymous on the Internet. These are the same files the FBI uses to catch child pornographers, hackers, and other nefarious types.
What The Law Says
Log files are considered legal evidence and you can be sued for stealing bandwidth (or copyrighted property). At the time of this writing, damages can be awarded up to $100,000 plus proven costs. Proof of monetary loss isn't necessary for damages to be awarded.