Persuasive Essay On Digital Art Theft

940 Words4 Pages
Throughout the last year, I 've been seeing more and more posts warning artists about art thieves and stolen art. As the age of modern technology comes upon us, modern art forgery appears in the form of digital art theft. As a non-physical product, digital art is incredibly easy to duplicate, steal and sell. Nowadays, artists display their work on social media sites such as Instagram and Amino, using these platforms to create a public portfolio and sell designs. The use of social media makes art more accessible than ever, for both viewers and thieves. Behind the veil of an online alias, the identities of thieves are almost impossible to trace, allowing them to be held unaccountable for their actions. As artists try to find ways to protect their work, thieves continuously find ways to subvert this. Stealing art is easy, creating art is not. Unlike traditional art forgery, stealing digital art takes almost no effort. No longer do forgers need to meticulously copy brushstrokes. With two clicks of a button, the picture is instantly duplicated onto a new file. And there 's really no way to determine whether the image is a duplicated forgery because stolen digital art can be completely identical to the original, right down to the individual pixels. Artists can add a watermark to their work and display their name to gain recognition for their art. These watermarks can vary from small signatures in the corner, to large copyright notices stamped right in the middle of the image.