New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art makes available almost 400,000 images

Re:New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art makes available alm... by acabal on Thursday May 22, 2014 @01:29AM (#7782268)

Wikipedia believes faithful reproductions (i.e., scans) of 2-d public domain work to also be in the public domain [1]. If that interpretation is correct, then the Met's licensing restrictions--at least for their scans of paintings and the like--are just hot air, and perhaps dishonest/opportunist hot air at that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly grateful they're making available such an important cultural trove, but this whole "intellectual property" madness that's gripping our society is a modern tragedy. I don't know how the Met can demand licensing terms for a scan of a 3000-year-old hieroglyph with a straight face, especially since their mission statement claims they operate in service to the public [2].

[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reuse_of_PD-Art_p...

[2] http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/mission-statement

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Re:New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art makes available alm... by jedahan on Thursday May 22, 2014 @02:15AM (#7782382)

Yep. There is a very strong cognitive dissonance within the museum, which has 2500 employees, many of whom have yet to understand the hypocracy. They believe they are serving the public by not sharing images, in a backwards sort of way.

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