Deep in the Enchanted C-Stand Forest …

I just learned about PicScout, a service for managing and tracking images online, and I’ve signed up to try it out and see what happens.

As I see it, there are two main uses for the service.  First, it makes it easier and faster to get permission to use a picture you find online.  People who are looking around on the web to find images they want to use for publishing, advertising, etc, can install the PicScout ImageExchange add-on for the Firefox browser (currently the add-on is only available to beta testers).  With the add-on installed, when you browse around you will see a little symbol in the corner of some images, indicating the images have been identified by the add-on as ones that are registered with PicScout.  Here’s how it looks:

With the Firefox add-on, little blue symbols appear for PicScout registered images.

You click on the symbol and get a popup, with some information about the picture, and a there’s a link so you can go and interact with the provider of the image.  Mostly, you would just go and purchase a license or otherwise get permission to use the image in your publication.  Here’s the popup:

Clicking on the blue symbol, you get this popup.

The second main feature is called ImageTracker.  PicScout explains it well:

With its proprietary image fingerprinting technology, ImageTracker proactively searches the Internet for images that match selected entries in the PicScout ImageIRC™. ImageTracker identifies matches, even if the images have been cropped, colorized or altered significantly, including watermark removal. The technology is non-intrusive, highly scalable and acts by identifying unique patterns within the images to allow comparison operations. The PicScout technique does not rely on embedded code, so it survives many forms of alterations and can match highly manipulated images to their original sources. After finding your images, ImageTracker creates a screen capture that documents each image use, then sends you regularly scheduled reports. You’ll know exactly who has used your work, where they’ve used it, and if they’ve been authorized to use it.

I’m interested to see this kind of image management growing, and I figure I should do my tiny little part in trying to make it happen.  With so much of the media environment existing primarily or exclusively online, and with significant movements pushing against image ownership and control on the web, there have to be new and better ways of managing the spread of content online.  Content providers like photographers must be able to control the uses of their work, and it should be fast and easy for everyone else to access the work and get permission to spread the work around further.

It’s not yet clear what this is going to cost.  Presumably there will be a fee to register and “fingerprint” an image with them, and then they will take some percentage of any proceeds that result from the licensing of the image.  I look forward to seeing the numbers, and seeing if the system works easily enough.

I heard about PicScout through PhotoShelter, the service I use to distribute images to my clients.  PhotoShelter have recently partnered with PicScout, and are not (yet) charging anything additional for the PicScout features.  As PhotoShelter has served me well for a few years now, I’ve come to trust them.  Neither PhotoShelter nor PicScout (nor anyone else) have compensated me in any way for trying their services or reviewing them.