Someone on my OU course has brought my attention to this
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/c-strategy-digitalage.pdfand the UK petition
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/copyrightreform/#detailWe call on the Government to abandon plans, announced on 29 October 2009, to allow free and unhindered reproduction of photographs without payment or credit on non-commercial websites.
This is completely at odds with the Government's stance on file sharing of other forms of intellectual property (films and music) and raises the prospect of crippling thousands of small businesses while protecting large corporate interests.
The proposal uses phrases like "It must be seen to benefit all parties, not some at the expense of others" and yet the Government's proposal does exactly that. It takes the work of photographers who have invested time and money in creating work, and gives it to people who have no relationship with that work, for free.
What does that mean for people like us? Will this mean anyone will be free to take any photo we upload anywhere on the internet and use it whenever/wherever they want? Would it mean that if this bill goes ahead, someone could take an image I have posted somewhere, download it, edit it as they see fit (or leave it in tact,) and then pass that image off as their own? Or am I misunderstanding some/all of the reading I have done?
