Aiming to protect copyrighted images from misuse, Google today removed the “view image” button that used to appear when you click on a picture that which allowed you to open the image in the new tab alone. The new change will make it harder for anyone to save an image.
The “view image” button was useful for users (including me) as since when users are searching for an image there used to be a very good chance that you might want to download it and later use for something. Now, you’ll have to take additional steps to save an image.
Photographers and publishers were long asking Google to take measure on its image Search page as the feature allowed users steal pictures, and we believe the removal of the view image button is one useful step in that direction.
Here is how you can download an image now.
Google has retained the “visit” button and now when you like an image that you need to use, Google will now drive you through the website that holds that image. This additional step will frustrate users, but with this Google believes that people are more likely to see any copyright information associated with that image. Thus, from now onwards, users will have to wait for a website to load and then scroll the web page to get the desired image. There are also times when majority of the websites could have disabled performing right click, which would make it even harder for users to save an image.
There is also one more way. Users can right click and can select “open image in new tab” or “view image” and you will end up opening the full-size image. But since, “visit” button is placed directly in front users will end up clicking it the most.
In addition to removing the “view image” button, Google has also removed the “search by image” button that appeared when you had opened up a photo. This will not have a wider impact on users as users will still be able perform a reverse image search by dragging the image to the search bar, and Google will still display related images when you click on a search result.
And while it’s good to see Google is trying hard to protect photographers and driving traffic to websites, there are plethora of legal uses for copyrighted images. With this move, Google wants to make sure users are properly attributing photos.
