Search Giant Baidu Unveils Blockchain Stock Photo Platform

Baidu, China's internet search giant, has launched a blockchain-based stock photo service in bid to protect image intellectual property in China, as part of its wider push for blockchain technology adoption.

The service, called Totem which went online Wednesday, touts a platform that uses blockchain to timestamp the submission of each original photograph from a user with a real-name identity and store data associated with the images in a distributed network.

With Baidu's existing capacity in internet data scraping and artificial intelligence, the platform says by comparing images that are circulated over the internet with data stored in a traceable blockchain, it would be able to substantiate allegations of intellectual property infringement.

Currently, according to the new site, the company indicates that several traditional stock photo services have also moved onto the platform with notable ones such as Visual China Group, a partner of the stock photo giant Getty Images in China.

While it remains unclear whether the platform is being built on a public blockchain or a private one, it marks yet another effort by Baidu, considered as a Chinese Google, in pushing for blockchain adoptions.

The new launch also comes just months after the firm introduced its blockchain-as-a-service platform in January this year, following which it has moved in with an exploration of a CryptoKitties knock-off dubbed Laici Go, as reported by CoinDesk.

This isn't the first time that an established technology firm is eyeing blockchain to solve the intellectual property issue for digital media assets.

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