Stop 43…
The UK Digital Economy Bill is being pushed though the Commons nice and fast so there isn’t any time to have a proper debate about it before the election, so Clause 43 may soon become law. The deadline to write to your MP (I’ve just done it) is the 6th April.
From stop43.org…
Until now, if someone found one of your photographs and wanted to use it commercially, they couldn’t without first asking you. Clause 43 changes all that by allowing the use of “Orphan Works” – photographs, illustrations and other artworks whose owners cannot be found.
Clause 43 says that if someone finds your photograph, wants to use it and decides that they can’t trace you, they can do whatever they like with it after paying an arbitrary fee to a UK Government-appointed “licensing body”. You’ll never know unless you happen to find it being used in this way, in which case you should be able to claim some money.
There’s more. Clause 43 also introduces “Extended Collective Licensing”.
This means that if someone finds your photograph and can trace you, they still don’t have to contact you for permission to use it. They can go to a UK Government-appointed “collecting society” and ask them instead. They’ll pay an arbitrary fee and be able to do whatever they like with the photograph. Your photograph. Again, without asking you first or paying what you would have charged.
More info from the AoP…
http://hub.the-aop.org/News_archive/p2_articleid/175
