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Bandwidth Theft

 

What is BANDWIDTH THEFT and what can I do about it?

Bandwidth theft occurs because someone copies a picture from another web site and pastes it into their messages or into their custom web pages.

Most web sites are paid for on a monthly basis and that payment is based on how many times the website is visited or opened for viewing.

By copying and pasting a picture, every time that picture is viewed the amount of space that is charged against the original website is counted as being viewed. It is similar to someone connecting a hose to your plumbing and using your water to wash their car or water the lawn. Imagine someone plugging an extension into your outside wall plug and running their household appliances with your power. Would you be upset? I would!

Some sites, like MSN Groups or Facebook, for example, are used by millions of people.  If we used the copy and paste method on all of our pictures, most website owners would become upset at the prices they would have to pay.

If you have permission, save the picture to your hard drive and then upload it to your site. Then link the picture to your custom pages or messages.

Of course, having permission to use copyrighted material is also something to watch out for when uploading something to your hard drive. Make sure you have permission. Without permission or stealing bandwidth can result in at least the loss of your web space, and very possibly a lawsuit against you.


 

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Page last updated January 26, 2008