In Britain, You May No Longer Own Your Instagram Photos

If you live Britain, your Facebook and Instagram photos may now be free for the taking

The U.K.’s Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act passed parliament and last week received Royal Assent to become a law, according to The Register.

“The Act,” explains The Register’s Andrew Orlowski, “contains changes to U.K. copyright law which permit the commercial exploitation of images where information identifying the owner is missing, so-called ‘orphan works,’ by placing the work into what's known as ‘extended collective licensing" schemes.’”

Since the overwhelming majority of photos online do not have that identifying information, being neither marked nor retaining metadata in most cases, a company or individual can claim it as an orphan, after making a cursory search (technically a “diligent search”) to match the photo to an owner. They will subsequently be able to sublicense it. Read more...