in the real world
when an artwork is scanned
it's transformed into pixels

in the digital world
when an artwork was originally conceived by technology
it's represented by pixels

whether these pixels are being printed
transmitted or being status quo
who's the owner?

just like in the real world
stengaographicize your images
& time stamp your creation

to identify the owner & the one who contributes
record the image content attributes
discriminate access & use rights to prevent disputes

however, can the metadata withstand
the change of resolution, perspective views or rotation
image resampling, flipping or cropping?

can the metadata withstand re-palettizing
image be blurred or sharpening
traced or embossed?

can the image be cut & paste, tween
print & again transmit or transfer in between?
or even stand subsequent washing machine handling?

this will depend on

the art & science of water-marking
& the awareness of legal whacking
or rather the love.of sharing & not sharing?

Lin Hsin Hsin
Sep 10, 1997

🔒 stengaographicize: verb of stenganography, word coined by the author
📖 first published on p.126 In Bytes We Travel, 1997, ISBN: 978-981-02-3359-4