Kategorie: Thoughts

‘All Hell’s Breakin‘ Loose’¹

When you decide to publish content online, you quickly encounter two invisible giants: data protection and copyright! And let’s get one thing straight: both are important and fundamentally sensible. In a broken internet, something like the GDPR is one of the last bastions, even if it’s being undermined or carelessly clicked away by users. So, if you want to make a website GDPR-compliant, it quickly becomes complicated. Or you can keep it as simple as possible: no third-party providers, no newsletters, no Google Fonts, etc.

‘Shout It Out Loud’²

Therefore, none of that applies to this site. Of course, you don’t just want to stay within your own confines, but also broaden your horizons. Interesting photographers, a worthwhile exhibition. You’d love to report on it. That’s where the second giant comes into play: copyright! The (Austrian) copyright law protects the intellectual property of creators. There’s a simple rule of thumb on the internet: Anything you didn’t create yourself is, in all likelihood, copyrighted and cannot be used without permission. No, even proper attribution isn’t enough. And it doesn’t matter whether you have a purely private site, like this one, or a commercial blog with thousands of readers.

Again, I also don’t want my images appearing on dubious websites, in advertising brochures, or on T-shirts without my knowledge and permission! But another absurdity of our current society is that some „artists“ or their legal representatives have made a business model out of simply sending out cease-and-desist letters without warning to every website where they can find their work. And finding it isn’t difficult these days. I’m not interested in that!

‘Lick it up’³

That leaves only three options:

Use only your own content. Even then, problems can arise (personal rights, property rights, etc.), which we’ll discuss another time. But all in all, you’re safe!

Another option is embedding external sources. But that immediately brings the other giant into play: data privacy, since user data can quickly flow out without their consent.

The only truly reliable solution is to use simple text links. This way, no external files end up on your server (no copyright infringement), and your visitor’s browser doesn’t establish an unwanted connection to third-party providers in the background (no GDPR violation). Only when readers actively click on the link do they leave your blog and see the content on the official platform. And that’s how I’ll continue to do it here for the time being.

KISS, keep it simple, stupid!

See you later!

PS: Disclaimer: If anyone wants to engage with my photography, they’re welcome to do so. And they can even use it as an example. I’ve given my permission! Please just cite the source and link back to it. Any commercial use beyond that is, of course, out of the question! I know a lawyer, too…

1. from the album Lick It Up by KISS, Released February 6, 1984 ↩︎
2. from the album Destroyer by KISS, Released March 1, 1976  ↩︎
3. from the album Lick It Up by KISS, Released September 18, 1983 ↩︎

The Internet is broken!

First, the bad news: The internet is broken! These days, when you Google something, the first results are usually commercial websites selling their products and paying to rank highly. Once you get past those, you’re bombarded with private websites. Clicking on them usually lands you in a vortex of ads. Because everything has to be monetized these days. The first and only rule of capitalism is: „Make the most of what you invest!“ So, every single recipe collection, no matter how useless, is plastered with ads, mostly consisting of bizarre AI-generated images or videos. The actual text is no longer recognizable, let alone readable! But most of the time, you can save yourself the trouble of reading the text on such sites anyway. The content isn’t important anymore, because the golden rule—you know the one! And besides problems like opaque tracking and a lack of data protection, digital advertising maintains an energy-hungry infrastructure whose CO2 emissions exceed those of the entire aviation industry!1 This leads to the bizarre situation that the carbon footprint of an online advertising brochure is five times that of a traditional printed brochure!2

There is hope!

But enough complaining! Let’s get to the positive! There are still websites on the internet that manage without advertising. Websites still run by real people and that still offer actual content. It makes sense to seek them out and share them! And this site aims to be one of those. Here, nothing will be sold to you that you don’t want. You won’t be bombarded with ads, no banner ads, and no „affiliate links.“ Your data won’t be collected and sold just so you can be here. You won’t even have a cookie slipped into your browser. This site is primarily about photography. And every now and then, I’ll allow myself to share my humble opinion on other topics that need to be adressed or otherwise drive me crazy.

„Increase beauty and forge connections“

That should be the guiding principle here. That will be the main focus! First and foremost, it should help me not to lose sight of the beautiful, the true, and the good amidst all the absurdities that unfold in this world of ours. If that then interests or inspires someone else, all the better! And if it appeals to you or challenges you, I’d be happy to hear from you.

Thank you for your time!

So far, so good! And if you’ve actually made it this far, then there is still hope for the internet!

PS: I will, of course, try to cite sources for my claims. I cannot and will not assume any responsibility for these links.

Sources:

1. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_Chapter10.pdf
2. https://www.oeko.de/fileadmin/oekodoc/2025-PCF_Print_vs_Digital_Werbung.pdf