Forum Moderators: not2easy
I already know about the Safe Harbor provision of the DMCA, but what other types of protection are there for content I don't directly control?
Are these available for the public to look at - or just that user?
If it is the public - pay the $20 or whatever it is to get listed in the dmca list and put another link for illegal contact that viewers can use to complain.
As long as you are making some sort of effort - I don't think you have much to worry about.
You imply ''users'' so somehow they have agreed to the terms and conditions of your site. Make it explicit in the T&C that you accept no responsibility for user content, and you will take account to remove content / terminate access for users that violate those T&C.
I'd be wary about 'pre approving' images - because if it is eventually shown that one of the images a violation of copyright, you could be held as a secondary infringer because you actively participated in making the image available (e.g. perhaps the image was a photograph owned by another party) - but as a small guy, it's unlikely that anyone would want to pursue you.
If you allow the users to do the uploading, you at least then have no active role in the process, and are probably covered under DMCA safe harbour provisions. You should probably note on your site that you do comply with DMCA and in what way. Perhaps you can use P3P policy to detail this?
If you want to police the content, you probably need a statement in your T&C, but this could border on privacy issues if the content is meant to be private (you don't mention what happens to the images after they are uploaded). To be honest, it seems much safer - and this is how people seem to do things - to take a completely hands off approach on only take action when you've been notified by another party. Make sure you have all the right T&C and stuff to absolve yourself of any liability.
These are some general guidelines, not specific advice :).
