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On image borrowing
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Not sure what other people think on the subject. Maybe I speak for the pirate community :)
Not to thread derail, but, anyone have any luck with any artists that do commissions? As much as 'found art' as served me, I'd like to get some portraits of the PCs up and goin' at some point.
I will start with the caveat that though I am a lawyer, I am not a copyright lawyer and am not terribly well-versed in either US or foreign copyright law.
Under U.S. law, you have to ask whether your use of others' work constitutes a permissible "fair use." The fact that you use others' images for a non-commercial purpose weighs in favor of a finding of fair use but by itself is *not* decisive. For purposes of U.S. copyright, it also doesn't necessarily absolve you of infringement simply because you link directly to someone's image and have it imported into/reframed on your OP wiki or campaign log, rather than uploading a copy into your photobucket account and linking from there - _even if you identify the person who is the actual author._
So if your question is "what are the legalities?" the answer is too complicated to summarize - it is all very case-specific. In practical terms, it's probably unlikely that anyone is going to realize that you are using their material and come after you. Some organizations, however (such as Getty Images) seem to have a no tolerance policy.
Doing a link/import from someone's own website is much more likely to draw their attention. A friend of mine has a site with photographs that have on occasion been the subject of linking/importing to someone else's site. My friend, P., is the admin for his own site, and he noted during routine review of system/server logs noted that his system was being accessed to serve up the photo every time the other person's page was viewed. P. changed the photograph to - if I recall correctly - something really offensive.)
My general practice has been to use public domain materials - public domain paintings/drawings for "NPC portraits":http://www.obsidianportal.com/character/dembrosi or "landscapes":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/rubies/adventure-log/week-i-initial-set-up-and-character-creation for instance, illustrations or photos from the "National Archives":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/rubies/adventure-log/week-xv-a-series-of-friendly-contests , or photos on flickr.com that are covered by a Creative Commons "license":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/rubies/adventure-log/week-xii-the-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing (for the latter, always adding a note at the bottom of a log post or wiki page with a link back to the original photo in question). Flickr photographs can be great sources for NPC "portraits":http://www.obsidianportal.com/character/marche as well. I've found searching for Creative Commons photos from Ren Faires to be useful.
Keep in mind that if you want to actually comply with the Creative Commons license, you need to make sure you read the particular flavor of CC license on each photo - some allow you to make derivative works (photoshopping, etc.), others don't.