Danny - Final Abstract

Orphaned Art 
 

The Internet has come a long way since its initial inception. It has become a place where people conduct business, interact with strangers, and in some cases, make a name for themselves. With a multitude of software applications that can be used to create a personalized space in this electronic world, the Internet is now a favorite tool for artists to promote and expose their work to the public.  However, a new bill threatens to disrupt the online art community. The Orphan Works bill, with backing by such people as Lawrence Lessig, proposes to make artwork, whose author can’t be found, available to anyone who wishes to use it.

With the Internet constantly evolving, it is essential that artists have a convenient way to lay claim to their work, making their property easily identifiable.  Therefore, all art posted on the Internet should be registered in a new system that legally binds artists to their work, ensuring that due credit is received.  Such a system will be able to connect with art communities and provide the opportunity for the artist to fill out information on the creative work before submitting it.  These works would be filed in an archive, which can be accessed at any time if the original creator of a piece needs to be found.  The system would work similarly to Google’s search engine, allowing users to search for original copyright holders and artists to ensure that their work is properly and legally copyrighted.  This system protects artists from potential infringement and allows them to continue using the Internet to expand their careers.

The copyright system will be a privately owned and operated service for artists’ use to copyright their work.  Initially the company will be funded by small business loans and donations and eventually, unobtrusive advertising on the website through the use of similar methods that Google and Yahoo have used to keep their search engines free for people to use. The system will use image recognition software, such as Milabra, to analyze each image that is uploaded to the database and run it against all other images in the database, checking for duplicates of that image. Any copyright issues will be double-checked by an employee of the system in order to dismiss or verify copyright abuse.