Can you still see the forest for the trees?
The management of rights, imagery, copyrights and author issues: it remains a somewhat gray, unclear area. We hear this back from our clients, and on the other hand, as a software supplier, we notice that we have to meet ever-higher requirements from all sorts of quarters. On the one hand, this concerns government regulations, and on the other hand, it concerns questions from companies. For example, they want to know where certain information is stored, whether it is inside or outside the European Economic Area, and if it is outside Europe, where exactly it is stored. Of course, this is all more than well taken care of, as we are ISO/IEC 27001 certified; an ISO standard for information security. This certification shows that, as an organization, you continuously control your information processes and that you safeguard the confidentiality, integrity and availability of business-critical information. By the way, this also means we meet contractual requirements of procurement criteria. Long story short: think of it as a kind of security business card.
Too free...
In contrast to the critical questions that are rightly asked of us as a supplier, we see that within the business world images are still handled fairly easily. This also has to do with 'unknown makes unloved' and the idea that things will be fine. Think for example of images in which random people are shown without permission being asked, or the way in which quitclaims are used. By means of such an agreement, the person portrayed waives his or her portrait rights. With a quitclaim he/she gives permission to someone to publish or reproduce photographs, images or sound recordings. This is often a photographer or publisher. What quite a few companies then fail to realize is that a quitclaim is often valid for a certain period of time. And there are exceptions to this as well.... In practice, quitclaims and images are often stored here and there. Often without a clear category classification or other legally sound structure. The above examples are just a tip of the iceberg when talking about the proper management and legal use of images.
Choose serious Digital Asset Management
What we do is positively help and actively support you to get this complicated process in order and then keep it there. By deploying a good quality Digital Asset Management system, you make the management and storage of your images with associated rights a lot easier. In practice, we now see that things are stored everywhere and nowhere, files are not linked to signed quitclaims and there is a lot of ambiguity. What matters most to us is that as a company you are aware of the risks you are running, because it is not a question of whether but when the legislature is going to set an example where the consumer is put in the right. Contact us if you recognize the above story and, like many of your colleagues, can no longer see the wood for the trees...
Outlook
In an upcoming blog, we would like to share more knowledge about information security. A hot topic, especially with all the new privacy regulations. Prefer an earlier conversation? You can, just contact us. We look forward to your message.