Is Web image theft a problem? Solution providers say yes

I got into an interesting debate this week with a PR guy who was pitching a service that's trying to curb the illegal use of copyrighted images on the Web. The service, called Vivozoom, is offering a subscription and payment system, along with guarantees that the images from the site are OK to use.

This just makes Vivozoom the new guy on the block in this business, trying to differentiate itself from more established players like Getty Images and Corbis. But the debate I was engaged in had less to do with the services being offered and more with the problem that these services are trying to solve.

Yes, the theft of images off the Web is a problem - just ask any photographer who's had his work lifted off the Internet, only to have it appear on another Web site, in a magazine ad or even on a billboard somewhere. But how big of a problem is it really? Is it as bad as the music piracy problem? Bootleg DVDs? Newspaper stories on blogs?

I'm not trying to downplay the magnitude of copyright infringement - but if the theft of images from the Web is such a big problem, what's being done to stop it?  What's being done to raise awareness?

When it came to music piracy, the recording industry reacted swiftly by calling in the lawyers. Granted, I've been a long time critic of the recording industry and its attempts to slow the adoption of new technology via lawsuits. But you have to admit that they did a good job of raising awareness and putting the problem into the spotlight.

I don't know that I can say the same about images being swiped off the Web. I can't recall any high profile lawsuit involving a Web image being used improperly or any other action that would draw attention to this problem.

I can appreciate the efforts that companies like Vivozoom are taking to be a part of the solution. But they're definitely the wrong ones to be trying to raise awareness of this problem - talk about a self-serving agenda. It's one thing to hear about a problem from the victims but it's quite another to hear about it from a company trying to profit from the solution.

Until image thieves are shown that piracy won't be tolerated and that there will be consequences, there's no real incentive for them to curb their practices. Launching a service that asks them to pay for what they're already getting for free certainly won't be most effective route.