Seeds of Thought

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2/19/2010 11:03 AM 

In a previous Blog I discussed that a well designed website creates a favorable image for your business, but there is one exception to this point. A website that is using images without proper permission or without the purchase of those images is certainly creating the wrong impression for your business. 

Some people naively think that you can use any image that you find on the Internet. This of course is not the case. Unless you create the image, purchase the image from www.istock.com or another site that sells images, or unless you have permission to use an image you most likely are engaging in illegal and unethical practices. Ignorance of the law is not a defense and you may quickly end up with a tarnished business image.

Hotlinking takes using images without proper permission one-step further.  Hotlinking is the equivalent of someone plugging into an electric outlet in your home to run appliances in their home; I am sure that you would think this is stealing. In the case of Website design, hotlinking is the practice of linking to an image on another server and displaying it on your site. Not only are you stealing the image you are also stealing network bandwidth. Network utilization can be hundreds or thousands of dollars per month so this can be a very serious infraction. Regardless of how much network utilization you are using – this is stealing. Businesses that are caught stealing certainly will not have a positive image for long.

Hotlinking can be traced through server logs. Recently we found a business that was hotlinking to our Press Room image. When we confronted the business owner he said his site was being maintained by “some kid”.  As a website owner you are responsible for the actions of your website and if it is performing unethical or illegal actions then you are responsible for those actions. To ensure that your website is not tarnishing your businesses image hire a professional website design firm and during the selection process ask them about their ethical practices.
 

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Tags: Website ethics , website image , business image , small business website

Categories: Website Design and Development

Location: Blogs Seeds of Thought

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