Smithsonian Institution collections

[Robert A. (Bob) Morris]

Deserving of special commendation is the SI's usage policy of their
copyrighted images (http://www.nmnh.si.edu/msw/si-opps.txt) and
data. (It's more controversial in the latter case whether the copyrights
protect data, or merely their organization. The Association of
Research Libraries has extensive discussion at
http://www.arl.org/info/).

Briefly, SI allows any use that is not for personal gain or commercial
gain. In particular: "In keeping with the spirit of the Internet it
is the policy of the SI and OPPS to permit casual, non-commercial
redistribution of this information; that is, redistribution of
information where no commercialism is involved.  This means that an
Internet user may download a file and share it with others for no
personal or commercial gain."

Contrast the policy of the NHM

"Except as provided below, you may not reproduce, republish, post,
transmit or distribute any Materials on the NHM Website, in whole or
in part, without the NHM's prior written permission."
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/generic/copy.html

There are in fact no exceptions "provided below".

The AMNH polcy is substantially the same, as are the policies of most
sites where the images are owned by individuals, not publicly or
charitably funded institutions. (In fact, probably even where they are
so owned).