This one time, at band camp, Simon wrote:
I'd be interested in the legal viewpoint on option one - if a bicyle isn't locked, is it therefore OK to steal it? ;-)
I think your analogy is flawed. As usual with copyright issues people take the concept of "ownership" to be the same as tangible goods. If I steal your bicycle, you no longer have a bicycle. If I copy your image, you still have it.
The point I'm making is that the Web, by design, encourages linking of material. It's the way it was made and part of the whole point. Linking in material is significantly different from taking your own copy in that the publisher retains control.
Tell me, how would it be different if I used an <a href> link to your image file instead of <img src>?
So, here's the policy I would suggest, and I adopt on my Openguide.
1. Linking of images is allowed and encouraged. 2. If your images have been linked from the site and you have a problem with it, you have these options:
a) Make an edit of the offending page and add the edit comment "please don't link my images", or b) Send an email to <openguides-london@openguides.org> requesting removal of the image link and we will do it for you, or c) For a longer-term solution, consider [http://wsabstract.com/howto/htaccess10.shtml technical measures] to prevent linking of images.