Hello,
I'd like to ask some question from photographer's perspective:
#1: Are you going to implement any kind of watermark? The images in the demo can be downloaded freely and they are 800 px on the long side which is more than enough for the most usage cases. Basicaly they are easy to be stolen. This was one of the main reasons many pro photographers refused to upload to 500px.
#2: Are you going to accept editorial images or just commercial like Fotolia?
#3: Can I use a pseudonim as a seller? I know I need to upload an ID to the site like every other stock site. But if want to stay anonymous (not knowing my real name) for the buyers do I have this option? This is a deal breaker for many contributors.
#4: Can I upload some images now and is there a point to do it before the main launch of the platform?
Thank you!
To answer your questions in order:
1. Yes, we will implement a watermark. We understand photographers' concerns about this and this will definitely be a feature. As we will not be hosting the images themselves, we will ensure uploaders' own name is the watermark (maybe alongside a Photochain smaller watermark)
2. We will have a system to organize categories of photography such as editorial, royalty free, commercial, restricted use etc..
3. Yes, this will be possible. We just need you to verify your identity for legal / licensing purposes, but you can remain anonymous
4. Not yet unfortunately. Drop us an email to
[email protected] that you'd like to be an early contributor and we'll be in touch in our alpha release phase.
Thank you for your support and your good questions!
The watermark is to stop people from stealing others content? What if someone buys the photos without the watermark and then uploads the photos for sale on Photochain again to make profits off of another users work?
Our digital copyright chain (DCC) provides an automated and innovative solution. To upload a photo, a user must have their identity verified. Then each uploaded photo is cryptographically hashed into a relatively small code, and this hash is permanently linked to the user who uploaded it. This link forever exists in the blockchain, through the DCC. Each image will have its own unique hash, but if I were to upload the same image twice, it would have the same hash as the pixels of the image are what are used to create the hash.
A trail of ownership is set for every single photo that passes through the platform, based on this hash and its link to the owner.
Then each uploaded image, by every photographer, is scanned against the DCC for copyright infringement, to see if the hash is the same.
As for preventing a buyer from re-distributing the works. As blockchain records and timestamps every transaction, it is always possible to trace who has legal ownership of an image's license and who doesn't. In the case where an image is discovered where the user doesn't have rightful licensing, this is copyright infringement and is illegal!
At this point copyright law comes into place and the user has the possibility to pay huge fines and many other penalties. For Photochain also, our recent copyright partnership with Copytrack.io should help us to further enforce copyright rules off the Photochain platform.
