Usenko wrote:No, she can't do a worse job than the incumbent. However, I suspect that this is setting the bar incredibly low . . .
Th-th-there's a "bar?"
***
This just in:
Kodak moves into the blockchain realm.
This is a bigger deal than one might think. No, I don't think Kodak is going to be issuing Kodakoins.
What they are going to do, however, is to apply blockchain technology to help manage image rights.
You create a funny post and decide you're going to embed an image. You rush out and find a funny picture using Google's image search and embed the link and post your funny junk. The forum software dutifully loads up that image, everyone laughs, and you make Internetz History.
It's free, you're not making any money from it, nobody is paying Egosoft to visit the forums to gander at pics and the picture was just sitting there, in the net, so you used it. That's fine, really.
BUT, then there's the people who make money from other people's work without paying them for that work. They grab a pic off the net and slap it on their website, not thinking that the photographer or creator created that product for sale and consumption, not for free use.
Image searchers have recently incorporated search standards which specifically differentiate between free and commercial pictures. But, they suck. They're unreliable and, to be honest, you never know if the person who is selling the picture actually has the rights to do so.
I use a lot of "textures" in my little 3D hobby. If I make something for someone else, I pay very close attention to usage rights. Strict attention. Why? Those creators deserve to get paid if they wanted to get paid for their work. I do create my own textures and materials, but there are times when I need something quickly. Thank you internetz...
This technology could be used to help manage usage rights for any picture. Or, perhaps, any digital product... Anyone think of that? (I just did... Maybe Kodak did, too?)
Images for sale commonly have watermarks or are presented in a preview version that isn't suitable for professional use. They can also use embedded "watermark" tech, like a digital signature. They can have meta-information and all sorts of crap "inside" them. In fact, digital standards allow for a wide variety of invisible information to be included in digital pictures. The sky is literally only limited by how big you want that image file to be. (Though, there can be "out of range" errors for certain functions. You won't be embedding an entire game in a standard jpg without problems.)
But NONE of it helps to manage usage rights if the person looking at it doesn't care. And, it can all be changed with the appropriate software.
But this... This could be the beginning of the "face of tomorrow" when it comes down to commercial images. Seriously, it's A Big Deal ™ and it has a company with a well-respected name taking up its cause.
Smart people have seen the advantages of this and the stock has shot up 40%. Granted, it probably had some headroom to begin with, but now? Forty-percent is forty-percent and you can spend that. If they handle this smartly, which I think they just might, you could end up seeing Kodak Digital Rights Management symbols on every professional, commercial, digital image.
PS - For the curious, this is a perfect example of how innovation and technology can be used to create new products, even those that lie outside of the original intent of the technology.
) idea to bring the NetzDG on its way.
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