Are Image Upload Sites Legal?
 

I mean, people upload whatever they want, every site is full of copyrighted pics used without permission of original author. Photobucket, Flickr, ImageShack, Webshots, 4chan etc etc

Do website administrators/owners hold any responsibility? And users... can day do it without any worries?

And what with for example forums like this one, most of us don't care from where the pics come from and probably never ask for the permission copyright owner...avatar pics, signature pics and so on ...

I'm not an asshole to go after anyone over forum avatar or one pic but I'm curious how it is, what's the legal status of such activity ?

I own an image hosting site and its a pain. I try and monitor it, but you can't catch them all. I own one that host NO adult images, yeah right. I still get so much porn uploaded then linked from all kinds of forums. I've only had a few companies/people who own the original image contact me. I even had this one girl contact me and tell me to take down nude photos of her that were on my site. Not sure what direction I want to go with the site, but the bottom line is it's more work than its worth.

Running any type of hosting site can be a pain.

Simply comply with DMCA, and you'll be fine.

That's like asking is youtube legal...
When someone upload southpark episode to youtube comedy central ask youtube to remove it immediately.
Image hosting sites should have "report copyrighted material" button on their sites.

user generated / uploaded content is pain in the ass!

kind of a loaded question.. are strip clubs legal ? what about if the strippers give bj's in a special room ?

there aren't many golden rules that make things legal , just alot of rules that make things illegal.

When it comes down to it image hosting sites are just an extension of web hosting in general. Webhosts certainly dont ask for proof of ownership of files its users upload. Image hosting is just webhosting on a smaller scale.. ( think geocities )

Wow what memories. My very first website ever was on geocities. :)

Alright, I see your point, so basically it's all ok I just need to make sure there is a form to report a violation on every page and moderate it in a case of reporting. Sounds fair.

Want to start one?

Chances are your site is in this torrent. I know mine still is.

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5923..._-_The_Torrent