UK.Gov passes Instagram Act: All your pics belong to everyone now

[r_a_feldman]

From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04..._act_landgrab/

"But the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act has sailed through without most amateurs or semi-professionals even realising the consequences.

The Act contains changes to UK copyright law which permit the commercial exploitation of images where information identifying the owner is missing, so-called "orphan works", by placing the work into what's known as "extended collective licensing" schemes. Since most digital images on the internet today are orphans - the metadata is missing or has been stripped by a large organisation - millions of photographs and illustrations are swept into such schemes.

For the first time anywhere in the world, the Act will permit the widespread commercial exploitation of unidentified work - the user only needs to perform a "diligent search". But since this is likely to come up with a blank, they can proceed with impunity. The Act states that a user of a work can act as if they are the owner of the work (which should be you) if they're given permission to do so by the Secretary of State and are acting as a regulated body."

[Tin Can]

I wonder how many here use instagram. I signed up but never used it. I do use Facebook, but may change what i do there.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Keeping your metadata data does not help with sites that remove it.
http://www.bjp-online.com/british-jo...raphs-metadata

[Tin Can]

Makes this site even more important.

[r_a_feldman]

I wonder how many here use instagram.

It's not just Instagram -- it is anywhere on the Web. You are pretty much out of luck if your owner metadata gets separated from your image. Some sites, such as the BBC, routinely strip off all metadata, conveniently (for them) creating a new orphaned work that they can exploit.

Bob

[Wayne Crider]

I guess you can watermark everything and/or make sure file sizes are so small they won't print beyond a couple of inches.

[bobwysiwyg]

There's always steganography.

[Tin Can]

Great word, I had to look up, now if I could just pronounce it...

Getting better, now I can torment my FB friends.

Thanks!

There's always steganography.

[r_a_feldman]

More information on the new law is at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05...act_explained/

[Jac@stafford.net]

There is a contentious side to the proposal, I think. Correct me if I am wrong.

One of my younger brothers (now in his Sixties) published on the Web a scholarly work regarding Marcel Duchamp and it necessarily included images of Duchamp's work.

He received a Cease and Desist Order from some kind of organization claiming to be a protective agency for Duchamp's work.

Duchamp's work is so beyond any copyright that it is crazy!

Does this relate at all with topic?