Starchivists

cop some pics, copyright cops

Sorting through the gigantic pile of pre-blog material on the SD desk, we just came across this bit of online archival-related activism. It seems that an organization known as public.resource.org, inc, which was founded by ‘nets granddaddy Carl Malamud, took it upon themselves to free the images currently viewable (and currently claimed ownership by) the Smithsonian e-commerce site smithsonianimages.si.edu.

In a letter addressed to the internet, public.resource.org claims that these images belong in the public domain and that the Smithsonian is unfairly preventing access to them. To serve the public interest and to raise awareness of the issue, public.resource.org has made all 6,288 images available on Flickr. The images are low-resolution and watermarked, as they are on the Smithsonian site. In addition to this work, they also purchased two high resolution images from the Smithsonian at $25 a piece and promptly made these available on Flickr as well.

There are many many issues regarding archives, copyright, reproductions, and usage, and we encourage our readers to chime in on the matter or to send us links and stories. Send anything via comments or email:

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Tags: copyright