Facebook, images and copyright?

[Splintercell]

Greetings,

I'm am a little confused when it comes to the rules and laws of copyright infringement when it comes to social media. One can simply find a picture on google search, save and share it..or they can just repost images and share directly from Facebook. You can save images from pintrest and post and share it on your Facebook wall. But aren't these violating copyright laws? If I saw a nice pic of kittens prancing around and I shared it on facebook and told my customers "It's Friday!", isnt that copyright infringement?

I have a business, and apart from creating my own content, I find it difficult to know if i am allowed to share existing pictures that I generally find on the internet, because I never know if i infringe or not.

Are there any rules that I can follow?
Do you know the rules?
Is there a website where I can access images from and share it without any worries?

Thanks

[Daniel]

If you Share the Picture you are Not at Fault that Person that Uploaded it is If you Uploaded it Directary to your Profile than you Are When you Upload Pictures Check and See if its Protected By Copyright Laws If it is Than you Can Get into Trouble if its Not than you will be Fine

[Yahoo mania]

Yea Images which are accesed through google search and pinitrest MAY be subject to copyright
However there are plenty of websites for copyright free photos that won’t require you to dig into your pockets. Here’s 5 of them. http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-websi...otographs/

[bcnu]

It's great that you're even AWARE of the copyright issues; so many people simply ignore them.

Basic rule: you cannot publish/distribute copyrighted stuff without permission. You can be sued.
Not everything is copyrighted (other than music recordings published by US authors in the USA, which are ALL copyrighted, either under state laws, prior to 1972, or federal).
You have a limited license to download and VIEW/save an image that the copyright owners uploaded.
SOME copyright owners authorize additional distribution freely, or with attribution (e.g., CC-BY) licenses.
Some websites require contributors to authorize OTHER members to modify or redistribute their works within the website (e.g., you can "share" things posted by others, but not outside that membership).
Most do not.
Works by the US Government are not copyrighted at all (in the USA).
Works published by US authors in the USA prior to 1923 are not copyrighted. Anything AFTER that, and anything not "published" prior to 1989, is subject to varying rules. See linked chart below.

Bottom line: You have to assume everything you see is copyrighted until you can prove it's not. If you make a mistake and the copyright owners object, you can be in trouble.