I don't know the scenario and what are the photos. If the photos are 120 years old the person who posted them doesn't own the copyrights. There are no copyrights due to the age. In that case, yes, you could use them. If someone post an article he wrote or a photo he shot to his blog, he own the rights to it. But if he posts a baseball photo that's copyright ran out 50 years ago, he don't have anymore rights to it than anyone else. The act of posting it makes no difference.
Now, that doesn't mean it isn't a good thing to ask. I would think many people would allow you to use the photos anyway, perhaps asking you to credit the source.
But as I said, I don't know what are the photos you are looking at and can't comment specifically on them.
Last edited by drc; 05-02-2012 at 11:16 AM.
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