In the U.S., photos are generally protected by copyright automatically as soon as they’re created. If images are still on a used memory card, buying the card does not usually give you copyright or permission to use the photos.

Without a license or clear permission from the photographer/rightsholder, you should assume you cannot legally publish, modify, reuse, or otherwise exploit the images. Simply possessing the card is not the same as owning the copyright.

Practically, the safe approach is to treat them as someone else’s copyrighted work: don’t share or alter them, and erase the card before using it yourself.