Recently, I read an article about a web designer who replaced a site he was contracted to build with a notice informing the world he’d not been paid for his services. The notice snowballed into public comments on social media sites and a few online news articles, all parties admonishing the company for not paying. The notice has since been replaced as talks have opened between the two parties.
The obvious lessons here include paying your bills on time, using discretion when sharing your website’s admin privileges and managing your relationship with the designer or agency. The entire scenario brings to light a new and interesting perspective on property, ownership and digital data.
Property is generally seen as something physically tangible, something we can perceive in real space. This understanding bleeds into the digital realm, as well. For example, the photos we take on our digital devices exist only in a digital space. However, because we can print, frame and interact with them in a physical way, we group the digital file itself into this definition of property and ownership.
However, what happens when we commission others to create digital files that will never exist in a physical space–like a website? The end result is an intangible product that doesn’t exist as something we can hear, see or feel. It only exists viewed through a computer program (a web browser). When the payment process is complete, the file ownership of a digital creation should transfer (and with it, the sole usage of the files) to the purchaser.
Oftentimes, it’s not this simple.
Generally, with website creation, a project is complete when the website is live and available to users. Consider now the withholding of payment even though the website is complete, live and working as intended. Under which jurisdiction does this situation belong? Does the designer have the right to take back the “property” for which ownership has not been fully transferred as evidenced by incomplete payment? If I get a loan from a bank to buy a car and then fail to repay the loan, the car can be repossessed since I don’t own it. Could the same rules apply to digital property?
Digital property should be treated the same as physical property. Though, I feel taking back digital property can be a sensitive process. Taking matters into your own hands is a gray area, but wanting to protect the integrity of the creative business can be admired. My colleagues and I pour countless hours into digital media projects and from our perspective, what we create is no different than a painting or sculpture. As digital information becomes more prevalent in our everyday lives, it will be interesting to see how laws and ideals are shaped to correspond with new understandings of property and ownership in a digital space.