Guarding your stuff

Do you ever wonder if your stuff is being used by other people apart from you?

If your creations are on the web, you might want to make sure they aren’t being used by others without your permission.

Or have you looked at something online and don’t know who owns it and maybe you have thought you’ll just use it anyway?

In my course research I have discovered a company called Tineye that helps creators with finding out if their own work is being used, and searchers with finding out who owns what is already on the web.

You can find their website here: TinEye Reverse Image Search

Tineye can be used it in 4 different ways:

1) Upload an image from your computer or mobile device by clicking the upload button to locate the image you wish to search for.

2) Search by URL: copy and paste an image url address into the search box.

3) Drag an image from a tab in your browser and drop it in a browser tab where TinEye is open.

4) Copy and paste an image from your clipboard.

Tineye don’t save your image, but they create a digital fingerprint of it to use.

Tineye then scan the digital fingerprints across the web to see if that image is being used elsewhere.

It will find it even if it has been cropped, resized or edited. This is a great tool for creators.

Let’s look at an example: The Mona Lisa. An image is uploaded and as expected, there are a lot of results…

There are options on how you can filter the results:

a) By best match

b) Most changed

c) Biggest image

d) Newest or

e) Oldest.

I have chosen the last link and it takes me to the website where the image is being used. Then you can discover more about the image and who is using it.

Similarly, if unknown, you can search for the owners of images to gain permission for you to use it.

Bearing in mind, this programme is free for personal use, but it is chargeable for business use.

Companies use tools like this to locate if their intellectual property are being used without their permission and there are instances where even small companies have been sued for using things without permission. Well worth being aware of.

So in this digital age, it is not possible to say, I’ll just use it, I won’t get found out! 😊