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Sargassum Check

Image credits and takedown

Where every image and dataset on Sargassum Check comes from, under what terms, and how to have something removed within 24 hours.

Last updated

Version 2026-10-18. Part of the Terms of Use (section 9). Published at sargassumcheck.com/copyright and beachsignal.com/copyright, linked from every footer; the item-by-item list of image and data credits is generated on the credits page. Where an image or dataset comes from, under what terms, and how to have something removed.

Credits

Beach photographs in the beach galleries come from Wikimedia Commons under the licence shown beside each photo (CC BY, CC BY-SA or public domain), with author, title and source. Reuse them under those licences, not ours.

Hotel photographs come from one of three sources, each recorded for every image:

  1. the booking programme whose button sits beside the photo (Expedia Group's Creator Toolbox), which licenses the image to us only for a card that sends you to book that property on an Expedia Group site;
  2. a hotel chain's or hotel's own press or partner material, used under its stated promotional terms; or
  3. the hotel's own official website, reproduced at card size with the source credited beneath the card, as a reference to that property.

Rights in every hotel photograph remain with their owners. They may not be copied from this site. A photograph is shown only to identify the property beside its booking link and never as evidence of beach conditions.

Webcams are linked, never shown: no webcam frame, still or player appears on this site. Each camera's card links its operator's own page and names the operator, or the directory it is listed on where the operator is not stated.

Contributed beach photos are shown only as privacy-processed versions, with the contributor's consent, as the Terms of Use section 5 describes; rights remain with the contributor.

Hero and marketing photographs: the Tulum coastline aerial on beachsignal.com is by Dimitris Kiriakakis on Unsplash (Unsplash License), historical imagery, never a current condition. Editorial illustrations, where used, are labelled as such.

Map data: geography © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License (ODbL), openstreetmap.org/copyright; tiles served by the OpenStreetMap Foundation under its tile usage policy.

Satellite, ocean and bulletin data:

Fonts: Instrument Serif and the site's other typefaces under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, self-hosted.

Software: open-source components are listed, with their licences, in the THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES file shipped with the site.

Removing an image: the quick route

If you own or control the rights in an image on this site and do not want it here, you do not need a formal notice. Email contact@sargassumcheck.com (subject "Image removal") with the page address, which image, and a sentence saying you are the rights holder or act for them. We remove the image within 24 hours of your email, confirm by reply, and record the removal so the image is not reinstated by a later pipeline run. We do not argue fair use with hotels, photographers or agencies over a card photo; we take it down.

If you prefer that we keep the image with a credit of your choosing, or under a licence, say so and we will do that instead.

For anyone who prefers the formal route, we handle written copyright notices by email, for everyone, wherever they are, in the notice-and-takedown form of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512. This applies both to images we chose and to photos contributed by visitors.

Sending a notice

Email contact@sargassumcheck.com (subject "Copyright") with all of the following; a notice missing them may not be acted on:

  1. your physical or electronic signature, as the owner of the copyright or someone authorised to act for the owner;
  2. identification of the copyrighted work you say is infringed (or a representative list, if several);
  3. identification of the material you say is infringing, with the page address and enough detail for us to find it;
  4. your name, address, telephone number and email;
  5. a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent or the law;
  6. a statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorised to act for the owner.

Misrepresentation has consequences. Under § 512(f), anyone who knowingly and materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or was removed by mistake, is liable for the damages that result, including our costs and attorneys' fees.

What we do with a valid notice

Within 24 hours of a complete notice we remove or disable access to the identified material. If it was contributed by a visitor, we tell the contributor where we can reach them, give them a copy of the notice, and count the notice against them. We log every notice.

Counter-notice (contributed photos)

If your contributed photo was removed and you believe that was a mistake or a misidentification, email contact@sargassumcheck.com (subject "Copyright") with:

  1. your physical or electronic signature;
  2. identification of the material and where it was before it was removed (the receipt number is enough);
  3. a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief it was removed by mistake or misidentification;
  4. your name, address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for your district (or, if outside the United States, for the District of Delaware), and that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the notice or their agent.

We forward the counter-notice to the person who sent the notice. Unless they tell us within 10 business days that they have filed a court action to restrain the infringement, we restore the material between 10 and 14 business days after receiving the counter-notice.

Repeat infringers

A contributor whose contributions receive notices we act on for three separate works within 12 months, or who we judge to be infringing deliberately, is blocked from contributing. We may block sooner for serious cases.

Other reports

Privacy and people in images. If a contributed or webcam image shows you, your child, your vehicle plate or your property in a way you object to, email contact@sargassumcheck.com with the page and the image. We remove or blur it within 24 hours and tell you what we did. You do not need to give a legal reason.

Illegal content and abuse. For content that is illegal for another reason — for example content that incites harm, non-consensual intimate images, or content that breaks the law where you live — email contact@sargassumcheck.com with the subject "Report", say why you believe it is illegal (which law, in your own words is fine), where it is, your name and email (unless the report concerns child sexual abuse material, which you may send anonymously), and a statement that you believe in good faith the report is accurate. We acknowledge the report, act on it diligently and without arbitrary delay, tell you what we decided and why, and tell the person affected where we can. If you disagree, reply and a different person reviews it. Users in the European Union may use this route for notices under the Digital Services Act and may complain to the Digital Services Coordinator of their member state.

Trademark, defamation and other claims. Email contact@sargassumcheck.com with the subject "Legal" and the details above. We handle them the same way.

Hotels and places. If you run a hotel or venue and your listing is wrong, or you want it removed, write to contact@sargassumcheck.com; corrections with a source are applied, and a removal request from the business is honoured within 24 hours.

Velkan Studio LLC · 2093 Philadelphia Pike, Ste 2073, Claymont, DE 19703, United States · contact@sargassumcheck.com