> I think a lot of folks are missing the point thinking this needs to be super-robust to be useful.
It does, though.
> This is a hedge against courts deciding scraping data for training purposes is valid.
For that hedge to work, though, it needs:
(1) Not to substantially degrade the art it is used on, and
(2) [To protect anyone other than a major player against other major players] ]
Not to be trivially bypassed by in a way that can be incorporated in automated workflows.
> now you are applying a filter (creating a derivative work) to defeat a copyright protection mechanism, both clearly prohibited in current law (US jurisdiction at least).
If the Fair Use exception applies to training an LLM (which is creating a derivative work, itself, before considering Fair Use), then its extremely clear that applying a filter to incoming works as part of that process (even if not if the filtered work was used for any other purpose) will also be protected. So the derivative work thing is useless.
The circumvention measure thing might technically work (in that it interjects a violation into a workflow that would otherwise be Fair Use), but as a practical matter that doesn’t matter for most users or against most violators. Moreover, to the extent its primary effect would be to adversely impact otherwise noninfringing use, it would be a textbook case of a justification for the Librarian of Congress issuing a DMCA exemption, which would then negate the legal utility entirely.
> For any serious player making tools, you’ll specifically avoid defeating these techniques. For any minor player you’ll now have to go to the backwaters of the internet for tools to do this that you hope won’t steal your bitcoins.
The proof of concept defeats already demonstrated use…the same tools that are used for AI image generation and training models on artist styles in the first place.
> Every notable artist will be only upload their art to sites that offer something like this
The samples I’ve seen of the damage this does to art suggests that this isn’t the case.
> This isn’t a technical solution to this problem, it’s a political solution that happens to use tech.
It’s neither, its just a non-solution.