[Caitlin]

Although our policy is, no doubt, don't use copyrighted photos without permission, many sites give permission to copy images for educational purposes. Some sites tell you who to contact for permission.

Most times, before the sale is the time to post a picture and a link. Press releases are the best source. The photos in a press release are meant to be circulated publicly. also there are some pictures that seem to have escaped out to the net and can be found in so many locations (like La Regente images) that all images couldn't be policed if one had a sqaud doing just that. Scanned photos in catalogs that were not made public would be going a little too far- unless the photo was in a press release too.

An educational intent for using an image is rarely offensive- especially if the credit is there. For historical puposes, I myself, I am not speaking for Jeremy or Kevin or any other authority, like to post what I perceive public images and I do because I dislike reading a thread after the image came down and not be able to see what the thread is about. In these cases -with an image in place- we become part of the historical record and are a usable resource that links to the source.

Remember, ALL Dover books, including "The Book of the Pearl" By Kunz & Stevenson (1908) are no longer under any copyright rules. Anyone could republish all or part of it, in print, or on the web. That includes the pictures. If that weren't true, Dover could not reprint the pictures, either. And the people who even have a frontespiece in color on the web would not be able to do that, either.

In tracking mussels (unios) and their travails, I often include large chunks of an article. Long after the article fades into obscurity and can't be googled as "news", you can read it and get the link here.

I see it as a service to the public record and I see it as adding tremendous dimension to an educational site that only provides information and opinions and does not exploit the (fully credited) images to promote anything or for any other reason.

I even think that one is allowed to quote short passages for review purposes. I would put forth that the use of a single public image to make a point is as important as using a quote to make a point.

Anyway, however torturous my reasoning, I take responsiblity for what I put up and hope for the best.