Hi everyone... Here's my two cents on the copyright issue (not that anyone asked)... As a professional photographer, I am constantly dealing with the issue of copyright infringement. I have found in the past that it is helpful to make it known to the client right up front that the images belong to ME & are most certainly not in the public domain. However, Web use of graphics, photos & text adds a whole bunch of new, awful possibilities for piracy. When I license images to clients for web use, I do not allow them to use the photos unless they take "reasonable" measures to prevent image theft by the users of their website. I consider the client to have taken such measures when my name, copyright symbol & the year of creation is displayed prominently next to, on or beneath the photograph. However, this doesn't really make for an impenetrable barrier to image theft; it's like expecting a criminal in a car chase to obey stop signs when the only thing that will surely stop him is a tire-shredding nail strip. I have found that creating image rollovers in a program such as Adobe ImageReady is a fast & easy way to prevent image theft without having to know fantastically complicated codes & such. For those that don't know; a rollover is a two-frame animation that is activated when it is "moused over" by the viewer. When I create a rollover for public consumption, I assemble it so when the image or graphic is moused over (such as a user would have to do in order to rip it off) the image or graphic will disappear. In place of the graphic, a copyright notice will pop up. Again, it's not an impenetrable barrier but it is a little more difficult to get around for the garden-variety web user. Many people (myself included) derive their income from licensing images that often take a significant investment to create. When a person who makes a living this way has their work stolen, this is analogous to taking food off of their table & clothes off of their back...literally. Even if someone is benevolent enough to offer their work gratis, they still remain the property of that individual & should be treated as such -- with respect! My point is; if you want to use graphics, etc. from the website of a shelter, you should certainly ask permission. Secondly, perhaps you should consider making a donation to that shelter to compensate them for the time & possible expense incurred by creating the graphics, etc. We all know that shelters struggle to make ends meet, and they don't need to spend their ferret care time defending their intellectual property against webified, thieving miscreants. Other than that, I have no strong feelings on the subject of copyright :-). (Note: I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the FML :-P) Jessica M. Jessica L. Manson Whimsy Creative Photography! 28 Stafford St. Plymouth, MA 02360 (508) 747-5505 [log in to unmask] www.whimsyphoto.com [Posted in FML issue 4118]