Visual Search Engine Tracks Stolen Images

Barence writes "A new visual search engine could help photographers keep track of their photographs whenever, and wherever, they appear on the internet. The TinEye search engine allows users to search by uploading a picture rather than typing in a keyword. It then conducts a pixel-by-pixel search across the internet, flagging all instances of that image even if it's been cropped, merged or digitally altered in some way. It's not just for copyright enforcement though; 'it's being used by researchers who need to find where an image came from to provide attribution, even people who are trying to find out who people are in old photos.' It's currently in beta, but you can try it out."

Comments

easy to circumvent

[Anonymous Coward]

even automagically - just add some random minor alteration to pixels in statistically homogeneous sections of your foto

will kick off an interesting 'watermarking' cold war

will also help to stem casual piracy but fair use for teh win!!1

how is this news on a day when pervez musharraf has resigned anyway - get some priorities!!1