WP Replace Unlicensed and Broken ImagesbyCK MacLeod

Background

In recent years, with the maturation of the internet and especially of the “blogosphere,” sites where photos and other images have been copied and displayed without concern for the rights of artists and services have come under enhanced scrutiny, sometimes resulting in costly lawsuits and threats of lawsuits. In addition, some site operators, especially as they have gotten more successful, have simply undergone a change in thinking about common internet practices viewed by some artists as theft.

Many or perhaps most bloggers still operate without concern for image licensing, and some have discovered – sometimes at significant cost – that, as one victim of a “copyright-trolling” lawyer put it, “Current Fair Use image copyright laws say that you’re financially liable for posting copyrighted images.”* You may be liable for unlicensed use of images even if:

• You did it by accident
• You immediately take down the picture after receiving a DMCA takedown notice
• The picture is resized
• The picture is licensed to your web developer
• You link back to the photo source and cite the photographer’s name
• Your site isn’t commercial and you make no money from your blog
• You have a disclaimer on the site
• The pic is embedded instead of saved on your server
• You found it on the Internet (that’s not an excuse!)

The core of this plug-in was originally implemented on a large site in one such predicament: The operators, after having been challenged by a copyright lawyer demanding thousands of dollars in payment for the use of a single unpaid-for image, and facing a steep legal bill even in pursuit of an eventually successful defense, decided to stop displaying any images whose usage rights were not fully cleared.

The operators were left with thousands of unlicensed images associated with archived posts – along with many images that were used fairly (because original to the site or author, or in the public domain). Finding and replacing images as well as image links presented numerous complications: Simply deleting image archives rather than editing the posts would produce numerous load errors, which would harm the site’s search engine ranking, produce unprofessional “broken images” display, and make restoration of good posts difficult where not impossible. Using a Javascript solution that obscured broken images and links might improve display, but would leave errors in place, and have no effect on unwanted images that were not deleted.

Using WP Replace Unlicensed and Broken Images

WP Replace Unwanted and Broken Images enables an Administrator to bring his or her site into effective compliance quickly, and then to recover “good” images if desired, while preserving archives. The plug-in adds numerous additional choices and other improvements to the earlier “WP Replace Old Images,” making it easier for an Administrator to refine the “purge,” and for the site’s editors and authors to restore old posts and archives to full health.

Improvements include:

• Posts can be excluded or included via Edit Post
• Posts can be excluded or included via All Posts Quick and Bulk Editing
• Featured images (or thumbnails) also can be removed/replaced
• Easy Inclusions or exclusion from image removal/replacement for authors and categories, and for “after” as well as “before” dates
• Replacement images provided with “cache-busting” queries (so changes to Front End can take effect immediately)
• User can upload own replacement image from Settings page, or choose “blank” and “erasure” replacement modes
• Installation routine preserves old settings on upgrade
• Detailed usage notes/tips/documentation
• Translation-ready

ALSO NOTE DISCLAIMER: Developer makes no promises or guarantees that use of this plug-in will secure a site against all claims of copyright infringement based on past practices. No one can do that!

*Description and list of Fair Use liability issues from “The $8,000 Mistake That All Bloggers Should Beware”

Additional Info

Still to Come

1. “Recuperation” workflow – list and select cured/uncured posts/authors/categories
2. Additional image selection patterns and inclusion/exclusion options
3. Optional database purge
4. Development of Digital Artists Alliance site and network

Check the WP-RUBI home pages for additional background, usage tips, and minor updates, or to contact the developer.

Thanks!

To all of the developers and everyday code-hackers, far too numerous to name, upon whose work I have depended. And Thanks to thatgrrl for catching a bad link to the plug-in’s home page!