imgur, copyrighted images from the web, and imgur accounts

Question

I noticed that when one uses the new super-cool WMD Image tool and choose "From the web" that the image is still uploaded to imgur.

Are there any concerns that this might result in the unauthorized reproduction of images which a user thinks they are hot-linking to? (let's assume the hosting site is OK with hot-linking)

On a tangential note, out of curiosity, are all images uploaded using a "Stack Exchange" account which could suffer the wrath of violating imgur's Terms of Service based on the activity of one user? Or are uploaded images associated with our individual accounts?

Answer 1

NOTE: This answer is a dupe of one I posted to this question, but the questions are different, so I'm putting the response in both places.

Imgur's "normal" terms of service do not apply to pictures you upload through Stack Exchange.

As far as rights go, your deal is with us, and is subject to our terms of service, privacy policy, and cc-wiki content license.

That means that the images you upload are covered under our "attribution required" license just like anything else you contribute.

We have a contract with Imgur LLC that explicitly states:

Imgur will make no claim of copyright to any images stored by SE on the Image Server (other than Imgur's own copyrighted images and other works, if any).

Answer 2

I thought this was already discussed in the comments to the blog post announcing the feature:

But I guess not. Anyway..

1. we have a special privileged account through which all images are uploaded, so images will stay around indefinitely

2. as for copyright of the images, that's between you and imgur