ChrisR
I'm a well known grump...
- Messages
- 11,087
- Name
- Chris
- Edit My Images
- Yes
IMHO we're panicing a bit, and missing the real culprit here. Any pro or serious amateur should have their copyright details in the exif or IPTC metadata for their images, and so they should not be orphaned. The problem with this is that too many sites routinely strip this metadata off. The "Embedded metadat manifesto" site shows how some of the many social networking sites treat metadata, although it's badly written and hard to understand.
There's no reason that I can see for any site to strip off metadata. In fact, I suspect that stripping off metadata that identifies the creator may be in breach of the creator's moral rights, let alone other aspects of their copyright. I've had a search through the terms of Facebook and Twitpic (as far as they are understandable), and can see nowhere where I might be agreeing to them doing this to my images.
I'd personally like the new regulations to make it less acceptable (even less legal) for anyone to strip identifying metadata from an image. If we can get these few dozen companies to make simple changes that will cost them peanuts, we will be in a world where fewer orphans will occur.
I care about this because the current situation means that a large part of our common digital heritage will not be preserved for future generations. You can preserve a physical phot without copying it, but you can't preserve a digital photo without copying it. If archives know the owner, they can ask for permission; if they don't know the owner, they have been unwilling to take the risk of the necessary copying for preservation (particularly given some agressive mood music from DACS in the past).
There's no reason that I can see for any site to strip off metadata. In fact, I suspect that stripping off metadata that identifies the creator may be in breach of the creator's moral rights, let alone other aspects of their copyright. I've had a search through the terms of Facebook and Twitpic (as far as they are understandable), and can see nowhere where I might be agreeing to them doing this to my images.
I'd personally like the new regulations to make it less acceptable (even less legal) for anyone to strip identifying metadata from an image. If we can get these few dozen companies to make simple changes that will cost them peanuts, we will be in a world where fewer orphans will occur.
I care about this because the current situation means that a large part of our common digital heritage will not be preserved for future generations. You can preserve a physical phot without copying it, but you can't preserve a digital photo without copying it. If archives know the owner, they can ask for permission; if they don't know the owner, they have been unwilling to take the risk of the necessary copying for preservation (particularly given some agressive mood music from DACS in the past).