Message-Id: <mailto:199408242227.RAA23635@library.wustl.edu> Date: Wed, 24 Aug 1994 15:09:32 CDT From: Susan A Poague <mailto:sapoague@IASTATE.EDU> Subject: Fair Use To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB <mailto:IMAGELIB@ARIZVM1.BITNET>
Here's something to ponder (and chuckle at) as we head on in to the new academic year:'Mondo 2000' Issue 12 Published by Fun City MegaMedia P.O. Box 10171 Berkeley, CA 94709-0171 ISSN 74470 77997
Fare Use by Bart Nagel
Universal Image Coding Process Protects Creativity
I am pleased, at last, to be able to report on the latest development in digital scanning technology which will definitely resolve the bothersome copyright infringement debacle of recent years.
A U.N. sponsored coalition of European and Asian cryptographers has perfected a method of embedding a numerical code into images of nearly every sort, from film-based photographs to digital still and video images to offset printed (half toned) pictures. The UNIVERSAL IMAGE CODE (UIC) will protect every image with its own sort of universal social security number, which identifies the image, its creator and/or its current owner or publisher. The intracacies of the embedding process (which will be covered fully in the next issue of MONDO and concurrently in 'Scientific American') are absolutely astounding. Although to the unaided eye the image code is undetectable, the code exists in every area of the image, so that even if you were to shred a picture into an area as small as .25 square inch, that piece would contain no less information than the whole piece; additionally the device used to scan the information can determine the precise proportion of the image contained on that piece, a feat of no small importance.
Lawrence Livermore Labs, after years of developing tactical military weaponry, has now, since the end of the cold war, turned its attention to market-driven technology development. In their latest FOR COMMERCE program they have developed the optics and electronic chip that will be used in the scanners that detect the Universal Image Code. While the sophistication of the design is exceptional, the relative cost of production is extremely low (partly because most of the reasearch (sic) and development was funded by YOUR tax dollars, at a time when Livermore was under contract to the government to develop highly portable counterfeiting detection equipment for use by U.S. Treasury agents overseas.) The low cost of the UIC detection hardware means it can be installed in nearly every kind of scanning apparatus, in fact before year's end there will be federal legislation in place that MANDATES UIC devices be installed in every type of scanning device made or imported into the U.S. (this includes desktop scanners, fax machines and photocopies). Much of this is due to the combined lobbying efforts of the International Union of Media Camera Operators and Imagefare, a global consortium of millionaire art collectors.
I joined IUMCO in 1986, and became interested in the emerging digital imaging technology, which the IUMCO was investigating for possible parallels to the music industry's compact disc piracy. Indeed it looked as though the Macintosh revolution brought the desktop scanner together to make thieves of the unenlightened desktop publisher, who unwittingly relied on the ad copy of equipment manufacturers for their ethical guidelines. What ensued was copyright infringement of photographs and illustrations of immense proportions. It has been estimated that loss of usage fees to photographers alone is well over 26 million dollars since 1988. If you include their agent's and stock house commissions, the net loss exceeds 83 million.
We at the IUMCO fully endorse the implementation of UIC legislation. It is time that photographers be fully compensated for the usage of their images, in every instance. The UIC will make this possible--and a whole lot more.
Many computer users believe that in the privacy of their own home or office they may scan and plunder books and magazines for images to be used on garage sale flyers or elaborate office memos that are then xeroxed and left to adorn their coworkers' cubicles. The more insidious of the breed, will 'manipulate' (read: defile) a stolen image to make recognition of it impossible. The copyright law is very clear on this. If you scan a copyrighted image, you are breaking the law no matter what you do or don't do with the resultant digital information.
The UIMCO is working very closely now with the Global UIC Standards Committee to establish the proper guidelines and rates for the international image marketplace.
When initialized the UIC system will monitor scanner activity through dedicated highspeed communication lines connected directly to your scanner (which will be registered to you, after a thorough credit check). If you scan an image which is registered to someone else, your VISA account will be automatically debited at a rate that is a function of the copyright owner's market value x dpi (resolution) x portion of image scanned. If you in turn republish the image, you will again be charged based on a printers' reporting service which monitors print runs through a global satellite uplink.
By the end of the year, all newly manufactured still and video cameras will incorporate UIC technology to embed coding at the moment of exposure.
Within two years the UIC system will be connected to a neural net, which will learn to detect patterns of lighting and composition in all images which are at some point scanned, whether registed or not.
Photographers who can demonstrate that they have a distinctive 'look' may also copyright their style, and file it with their local Visa sponsored UIC chapter. Lazy and creatively bankrupt photographers who imitate the masters will be billed for it. This should help diminish the 'alternative process herd instinct' of cross-process/hosemaster/polaroid transfer trends. By the way, photographers Annie Liebowitz and Richard Avedon have decided to donate all future proceeds from their STYLE IMITATION INCOME to We're Creative, Too a national support group for professional photo assistants.
Our next issue will feature a more in-depth look at how Universal Image Coding will protect your creativity and insure your income.
--Bart Nagel ;)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
At press time we learned of a conspiracy of architects, clothing designers, movie extras, and members of the "dUdU" anti-art movement to undermine the very core of the Universal Image Coding and Compensation Compact. Working closely with West Coast cypherpunks and hackers, dUdUist artists have cracked the UIC code and have developed a method for embedding a UIC-like code in everything from skyscrapers and bridges to sweaters and even faces. A phone call from a couple who identified themselves as el.Jo and any_tiff.Umake and claiming to represent the aforementioned conspiracy stated that they will be embedding code in any and all materials designed by members of their group. The embedded code will apparently fool UIC programs into crediting everyone whose code appears in a photograph, while simultaneously debiting the photographer. "Photographers have been sampling reality for years and making money at it, said any_tiff.Umake, and for years we've seen OUR building, OUR fashions, OUR faces and even OUR graffiti appear in and enhance their work. Now we want to be compensated for being integral components of that reality."
In a separate note: ImageFare announced this week that they acquired control of marketing rights for the classic Italian religious paintings previously owned by Poperrific, the entertainment arm of the Vatican. ImageFare expects to increase revenue from image use 800% by embedding UIC in all images it owns or manages--in photo, fresco or burrito.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Susan Poague Iowa State University mailto:sapoague@iastate.edu