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So then what gives Google the legal right to fetch, store, and re-serve the images?

by jfoster 13y ago

Dylan16807 13y ago
They're just acting as an email client. Alice sends email to Bob, Bob is granted rights to fetch and view images. Bob uses gmail, so he passes the rights onto google to do part of that serverside.
- jfoster 13y ago
  I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think copyright law allows for Bob to pass on that right.
  - Dylan16807 13y ago
    He certainly passed on a significant portion of the rights or that server wouldn't be authorized to receive and permanently store the emails in the first place. Do you think copyright law disallows running your desktop in the cloud?
mcintyre1994 13y ago
Unless they've somehow overlooked something, surely their terms of service will?
- jfoster 13y ago
  The terms of service are an agreement with their users, not with third parties who are emailing their users.
  - mcintyre1994 13y ago
    I see where you're coming from, and IANAL etc, but this surely must be a solved problem? For at least the last 15 years (longer?) we've had web mail where mail you send doesn't go directly to the user but via some other servers. If there is an actual issue here it's going to be a hell of a legal battle.
mariodiana 13y ago
I came here to say basically the same thing, so I'm going to chime in in support of what you're saying. If I'm a marketer and I send an email with a link to the image, and Google caches it in order to resend it for their own purposes (even if that's to shield their users from spam), how is that not a copyright violation? In this case, caching is no different than copying; and the kind of caching Google is doing in this instance is different than the caching an individual does via his browser, since the individual downloaded the image in the original instance.
gohrt 13y ago
If I had to guess, I would guess that sending an email with an image link is a rather obvious declaration of intent to share the image.
- jfoster 13y ago
  Yes, but with who? I think it's a declaration of intent to share with the person specified in the "to:", "cc:" and "bcc:" fields, but not with Google.

So then what gives Google the legal right to fetch, store, and re-serve the images?

by jfoster 13y ago

So then what gives Google the legal right to fetch, store, and re-serve the images?

They're just acting as an email client. Alice sends email to Bob, Bob is granted rights to fetch and view images. Bob uses gmail, so he passes the rights onto google to do part of that serverside.

jfoster 13y ago
I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think copyright law allows for Bob to pass on that right.
- Dylan16807 13y ago
  He certainly passed on a significant portion of the rights or that server wouldn't be authorized to receive and permanently store the emails in the first place. Do you think copyright law disallows running your desktop in the cloud?

mcintyre1994 13y ago

Unless they've somehow overlooked something, surely their terms of service will?

jfoster 13y ago
The terms of service are an agreement with their users, not with third parties who are emailing their users.
- mcintyre1994 13y ago
  I see where you're coming from, and IANAL etc, but this surely must be a solved problem? For at least the last 15 years (longer?) we've had web mail where mail you send doesn't go directly to the user but via some other servers. If there is an actual issue here it's going to be a hell of a legal battle.

mariodiana 13y ago

I came here to say basically the same thing, so I'm going to chime in in support of what you're saying. If I'm a marketer and I send an email with a link to the image, and Google caches it in order to resend it for their own purposes (even if that's to shield their users from spam), how is that not a copyright violation? In this case, caching is no different than copying; and the kind of caching Google is doing in this instance is different than the caching an individual does via his browser, since the individual downloaded the image in the original instance.

gohrt 13y ago

If I had to guess, I would guess that sending an email with an image link is a rather obvious declaration of intent to share the image.

jfoster 13y ago
Yes, but with who? I think it's a declaration of intent to share with the person specified in the "to:", "cc:" and "bcc:" fields, but not with Google.