When Getty Images takes on Google, photographers win And just like that, the "View Image" link disappeared from Google's search results. Suddenly, the quickest and easiest way to find and save an image — or find and steal an image — was gone. For Google's search liaison, Danny Sullivan, the change was all about helping "connect users and useful websites," he wrote on Twitter. "The Visit button remains, so users can see images in the context of the Web pages they're on." But there's a lot more to it. Two years ago, Getty Images surprised the photography industry when it took on Google, accusing the search giant of "scraping images from third party websites and encouraging piracy," as I wrote in April 2016. For Getty, the "View Image" link promoted piracy, "resulting in widespread copyright infringement, turning users into accidental pirates," the media distribution company claimed. Getty had filed an official complaint to the European Union's antitrust commission, and anyone who remembered how the commission handled Microsoft would take it seriously. Google did and, in a settlement with Getty, agreed to remove the link, making it harder — but not impossible — for any of us to "borrow" an image we've found on the Internet without talking to its rightful copyright holder. For Google, this is about striking "a balance between serving user needs and publisher concerns, both stakeholders we value," wrote Sullivan. And for Getty, it's about "enhancing copyright awareness across the globe," it said in a statement released to In Sight. Google's decision is a welcomed step in educating the general population on the value of photography and I can't help but see the irony in Getty Images — the image library giant that brought down the value of photography over many years and through many acquisitions — being the hero of the story this time. Yet we're not out of the woods. Earlier this month, Instagram confirmed it was testing a new feature that would make it easy for anyone to re-gram users' photos. While your username will always show up in these posts, it sure won't help photographers protect their rights. -- Olivier Laurent In other news this week: Snapchat faced users' wrath after it rolled out its new design to more territories around the world. The changes are supposed to make the app easier to use by older people, but it's faithful users who now find the app confusing. And the director of photography at the New York Times announced she was retiring in June after 14 years at the media company. |
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