Scanning ahead…
Heading for a world where we don’t own our content? Jon Devo sees the clouds gathering
Jon Devo instagram.com/gadgetsjon
Portrait of a female Macaca nigra (Celebes crested macaque) in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, who triggered photographer David Slater’s camera.
Wikipedia Commons / Caters News Agency
Ownership is a critical subject that may come into focus over the coming years. With the rise of cloud storage and services, I worry that we are moving into a world where we own nothing that we create. It has long been understood that whoever takes a photograph owns it. This premise was tested when PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] filed lawsuits against British wildlife photographer David J Slater for his image of a monkey taking a selfie. Slater had travelled to Indonesia to shoot endangered macaques but PETA argued that copyright should be assigned to the monkey. Courts ruled a non-human couldn’t assert copyright, but a US Copyright Office ruling stated works created by a non-human weren’t copyrightable, making it public domain. What about the services we rely on to store, share and create our work?