Trust On The Internet





         Advance Notes: How much worry should we devote to photo thievery on the Internet?

         There's an element of human nature involved here: Trust.

 
 
        I can remember when we first got here to the farm. The nearest grocery was (still is) the Horse Creek Store. Fred Nelson would stand behind the counter and retrieve the products you wanted from the shelves. It's not that he didn't trust his customers. It was always done that way. A few years later when supermarkets were becoming widespread, I asked Fred if he thought customers would walk out of the supermarkets with products in their pockets without paying.

         Fred's response, "Well, there might be some of that."

         As we all know now, yes, a few people, it turns out, will do that. Maybe 2% -maybe 5% - of the population. Nevertheless, at the Horse Creek Store you now gather your own items from the shelves. And the supermarket service model, used everywhere from huge groceries to hardware stores, has benefited both customers and owners. Customers retrieve the products themselves, and thereby far more customers can be taken care of per day. Businesses have learned to factor the minor loss from thievery into the cost of the products and volume sales.

         This model places an element of trust in the customer. It says, "I trust you (most of you!) enough that you won't walk out of my store without paying." It absorbs the modest occurrence of thievery.

         The Internet will also eventually settle into a comfortable balance built on sensible commerce. (You pays for what you gits.) Why not put energy toward serving the 95% of customers who are going to be trustworthy, rather than
the 5% who won't be?

         You might say, "Well photos are different. They are easy to steal. No one is watching."

         Perhaps, but small items ranging from chewing gum to shampoo are easy to steal. However, most people, including kids, are basically honest. They don't steal. Stealing, besides being immoral, has disadvantages that outweigh the benefits.

         When we hear of Internet theft, you'll find that most of the perpetrators of Internet theft cases fall into the "immature hot shot" age category. Another small percentage of guilty parties are people ignorant of copyright law. The final percentage consists of people who live life trying to get away with getting something for nothing. But is it worth our time to track them down and shake a finger at them? (That's about the only reward we're going to realize.)

         I would advise going about our business without agitation, knowing that human nature is on our side. The majority of people traveling the Internet landscape are not going to steal, either because they are moral -- or it is too inconvenient!

Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and publisher of "PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter," has provided on-line targeted information for photobuyers, photo researchers and editors for two decades. No other newsletter brings photobuyers such up-to-the minute, practical information from an experienced picture professional intimately familiar with both sides of the stock photo desk. For more info: http://www.photosource.com/photobuyer/.


           


           

Tommy Thompson

Kerry Kolb

Jon Saban

Jake Nelson