Photo Hosting Websites (shutterfly, ofoto etc)

[sheila]

Since so many people use either Shutterfly or oFoto to store their images, I just wanted to let you know the following are things you agreed to.

Linking directly to images on Shutterfly’s servers from external sites is expressly prohibited.
[ofoto members agree not to] make images hosted by Ofoto available for viewing by the general public through a publicly posted link to the image or otherwise;
I looked on the Snapfish Website to see if they had something similar and couldn't find it.

[Lette]

:scratch: Okay, why did I think this was allowed on Shutterfly? :confused: I usually just pull up a picture there, right click to copy and then paste over here.

How am I supposed to do it? :blush:

[Hilary]

I use www.photobucket.com (http://www.photobucket.com), they are basically there specifically for this purpose. :)

[kim]

i'm guessing sheila has been contacted by them.

hmm...i thought shutterfly allowed it too. maybe they've changed their policy.

i know photobucket allows it...i'll double check.

[bunkie68]

I've never had a problem doing that with Shutterfly, I thought it was OK. :dunno:

[Alyssa]

Wow - I'm surprised too...I thought that was part of the purpose of Shutterfly.

[gulp!]

Me, too.

Ofoto never works for me, which is frustrating b/c that's where I upload my pics for everyone IRL. When I copy and paste, I'm the only one that can see them.

And under Ofoto's definition, does this count as the general public, since we're a private, member-only community?

[TtownAnne]

So what are we supposed to do then? I'm confused now.

[Wendy]

i'm guessing sheila has been contacted by them.

hmm...i thought shutterfly allowed it too. maybe they've changed their policy.

i know photobucket allows it...i'll double check.

We have not been contacted by Shutterfly. This was pointed out to us by one of our members. It is just for your information.

[Karri]

That is weird. I thought that it was ok to do!!!!!!

[sheila]

Shutterfly is ok with (and encourages) you to link to an album, just not the individual pictures.

I think the difference is that when you are looking at the album on the shutterfly site there is the potential that you would spend money there (for a print, etc)

[Brooke]

Photobucket has this in their terms of service -


Photobucket.com reserves the right to disable direct linking on user accounts that are using excessive bandwidth or otherwise abusing the system.
but it also says you are allowed ~70,000 hits per month.

[~Deborah~]

Oh oh...I link to shutterfly

[Nadine]

Shutterfly is ok with (and encourages) you to link to an album, just not the individual pictures.

I think the difference is that when you are looking at the album on the shutterfly site there is the potential that you would spend money there (for a print, etc)Thanks for clarifying that. I was not sure whether I did something right or wrong. Since I link to albums or copy and paste the individual pictures in here, I guess I am off the hook. :angelfly:

[Cazzle]

Sorry Nadine, but your pictures are hotlinked. If you right click and choose properties, you'll see that they are hosted on Shutterfly's servers. Pasting the individual photos is hotlinking.

[Nadine]

O-oh...
So in other words, what I do IS wrong.
Then how do I do it the right way?
I can't possibly go back and change them all.... there are way too many.
Ugh! So which other quick way is there?

[Michelear]

hmm.. i do this too. how else can we show pics?

[jenr812]

hmm.. i do this too. how else can we show pics?:nod:

[Martian Lullaby]

So using the shutterfly-photo-address-code is actually illegal?

[sheila]

Well... shutterfly asks you not to do it. I don't know if it breaks any laws.

[Cazzle]

It's Greatly Frowned Upon by the Internet Community. But no, not illegal. When you hotlink everytime someone opens the page the photo is on, it's drawn from their servers using their bandwidth and so it costs them money. It's up to each provider to decide if they think this is an acceptable use of their resources. Photobucket agrees that it's ok for you to do it (so long as it's not overused, and I doubt any of us will ever post an image here that's viewed 70,000 times in a month!), but Shutterfly do not give permission for their bandwidth to be used to show photos in a way that doesn't give them potential sales. It's up to each person to decide if they will respect that or not, they can't legally force you to... but they can withdraw their hosting service if bandwidth costs exceed their income.

[Cat]

Thats good to know Carol thanks for that info :)

[Melissa]

Wow.... If you were on UB when they stopped allowing photo hosting, they specifically suggested Shutterfly and hotlinking to them. They even had a link on their site. Huh.... I wonder if they changed their policy, or if UB just suggested them because they knew that shutterfly didn't care and then shut down hotlinking.