Proposed UK law changes would ban street photography and permit use of orphan works.

[Rolleiflexible]

Copyrightaction.com reports of two proposed
revisions to UK law, that will have a palpable
effect on all of us. The first is an expansive new
rule that will permit the use of "orphan works,"
i.e., photographs whose copyright ownership
cannot be discerned, contained in the "Digital
Economy Bill," expected to pass in the next
month or so. The second is a proposed rule to
ban "professional" photographers from publishing
photographs made in public, without the consent
of all identifiable people who appear in it, in the
name of protecting privacy interests.

http://copyrightaction.com/forum/uk-...aphy-in-public

The orphan works provision of the proposed
Digital Economy Bill would appear to have
broad global consequences, as it appears to
enable UK publishers to make use of any
photograph they find online, the provenance
of which cannot be established.

[ajmiller]

What bothers me about this is the way it's been done. Type 'Digital Economy Bill' into Google and it's all about illegal file sharing, tougher rules on video games etc. Whilst I'm all in favour of creators of digital content been rightly rewarded for their work, as usual, the devil is in the detail. The two parts you mention here have been bolted on with little thought and no clarity of detail - vague laws are open to many interpretations.
As far as photography goes, perhaps another good reason not to go digital?

[df cardwell]

Thanks for posting this, Sanders. AS the lede says, "The end game is now in sight."

"another good reason not to go digital?"

Don't you mean, another reason to NEVER post an image online ?

[ajmiller]

Don't you mean, another reason to NEVER post an image online ?

Good point, and from my limited understanding watermarking isn't a great help. There was a Q&A session on The Guardian website the other day about becoming a photographer as a career choice and one of the panel spoke about some Silicon Valley companies developing software to assist photographers in finding their images online. I think your suggestion of not posting online at all may be easier.

[SuzanneR]

It's a double edged sword... most photographers need to market their work in order to get assignments, and I can tell you, if I were still a photo editor, ( I worked for a weekly newsmagazine) I'd be using websites to assess a photographer's work. If they didn't have a website, I'd have to wonder why? And if I can't see the work quickly... I'll move on to the next photographer on the list. Now, granted, nothing beats bringing a printed portfolio to an editor or art buyer, but that's not always practical, and there were times when i had to hire someone quickly in a particular area without knowing them. In this day and age, I'm sure I can be more confident about their work once I've seen their website. I wasn't always able to know just how good or bad the work really was back in the day.

This UK law does seem to do an end run around the US copyright law, and you'd think ASMP would be all over them. And really, they need to define "orphan work" a little more precisely, and banning street photography is a fool's errand if ever there was one. What a mess.

[Andy K]

I would suggest that any UK photographer opposed to this write to their local MP via Write To Them, as I have done. Question the Orphan Works clause of the Digital Economy Bill and demand a response from the Digital Minister, Stephen Timms MP.

[Q.G.]

I would suggest that any UK photographer opposed to this write to their local MP via Write To Them, as I have done. Question the Orphan Works clause of the Digital Economy Bill and demand a response from the Digital Minister, Stephen Timms MP.

And write to any MEP you can locate as well.
If national governments can get silly bills passed in national parliaments, there's always the EU to put up an extra hurdle to trip 'm up. (The EU is not always a bad thing. )

[Ian Grant]

You're right Andy, it is a case of writing to your MP, and I'd add MEP because it raises EU issues as well. As there's a General election due any moment in the UK relevant candidates as well, I've been getting Email canvassing already from 2 parties.

Ian

[AgX]

A german higher court has just made a decision which seemingly changes the situation of photographers to their benefit who want to commercialize photographs of buildings, of which the owner itself already makes commercial use.

So not all is that bad everywhere at the moment...

[Andy K]

You're right Andy, it is a case of writing to your MP, and I'd add MEP because it raises EU issues as well. As there's a General election due any moment in the UK relevant candidates as well, I've been getting Email canvassing already from 2 parties.

Ian

I have now also written to all my EU representatives.