A Fix for the Wikipedia Photos’ Copyright Scams?
As reported by Petapixel, a new form of copyright (better, ‘moral rights of author) scam hits photographer: the credit stealing on Wikipedia. In a nutshell, as everything on Wikipedia is editable, somebody started changing the photos’ ownership information from the original author to somebody else who, as Petapixel writes, get a series of ‘benefit’.
As bad as it sounds, copyright protection on the Internet is a lost battle for an individual. Some services like Unsplash “turned the problem into an opportunity”. However it did not solve the issue in general terms.
I’m seriously considering if just going back to a print-only sharing is a better way to handle pictures’ copyright, Sure, it costs more and it is slower. However, I’m talking about professional photography. Instagrammers and casual shooters are of course free to surrend their own copyright to the next abuser.