Flags, Statistics and AI Theft!

 Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) development by big corporations the death-knell for copyright law and intellectual rights? If international legislators do not grasp this nettle soon, I fear we may have already lost the battle to keep ownership of anything we create.

On our website we have a useful and interesting application called ‘Flagcounter’ that shows the location of our visitors from the top twenty countries, by displaying their national flags in the right lower margin of our home page. But over the last few years, a worrying trend has developed.

The UK and USA have naturally been the top nations from which our visitors originated, with around 6% of our total visitors coming from these two English-speaking countries. In contrast, in less than two years, Singapore has sped up the visitor list and now accounts for 90% of our visitors! I doubt Singapore has that many cinderella local post devotees.

 After a little delving it appears the Singapore statistics represent internet robots, spiders, or crawlers, designed to “borrow” images for AI resources. In other words, stealing without credit to the image owner or creator.

Image Source: Pixabay

It seems Google Analytics (GA) filters out these visitors from Singapore, as they do not appear in website GA results. Of course, AI crawlers are not only restricted to Singapore, they are being used by all the major (and minor) AI developers targeting the world wide web.

The worst thing is they cannot be stopped from visiting my website even when they are specifically blocked in the site .htaccess file. Other website owners have reported similar futile attempts to protect their sites from these AI thieves. If I had not been using the application ‘Flagcounter’ I would not have noticed this digital burglary at all!

In order to counter this free unattributed use of CILP stamp images by AI bots, CILP is proposing to deface future stamp images with diagonal red lines, as is the custom of stamp issuing authorities worldwide. 

Am I bolting the door after the horse has bolted? Maybe, but a little victory makes me feel better!

 

Postmaster

New Issue: Avro Vulcan XL426

 Aviation Series No.3: Avro Vulcan XL426

CILP is pleased to announce the release of the third offering in our extremely popular Aviation Series, the delta wing Avro Vulcan. Our stamp features Avro Vulcan XL426, one of only three remaining taxiable Avro Vulcan strategic bombers.

Avro Vulcan XL425 (CP067)

Since 1993, it has been owned and maintained by the Vulcan Restoration Trust, based at Southend London Airport, England, approximately 15 miles from Canvey Island. This historic aircraft served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1962 to 1986. A total of 105 stamps have been produced.

CILP stamps are shipped worldwide from Alpha Thematics on Ebid UK.

Postmaster

New Issue: D-Day 1944 80th Anniversary

The Canvey Island Local Post (CILP) is pleased to announce the issue of its latest stamp, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, on the coast of Normandy, France. 

CP066

The stamp features a dynamic statue of British infantry advancing across the beach under fire on D-Day, which is situated at the recently completed national British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer, Normandy, France. 

The British Normandy Memorial commemorates 22,422 personnel from 30 countries under British command, who lost their lives during the operation and subsequent Normandy battles. A limited run of 160 stamps have been printed.

CILP stamps are shipped worldwide from Alpha Thematics on Ebid UK.  

Postmaster

River Thames Wrecks: SS Benmohr (1902)

 The Canvey Island Local Post (CILP) is pleased to announce the issue of its latest stamp and initial release for our new River Thames Wrecks series.

The first stamp in this occasional series is the SS Benmohr. On 6 February 1902, the SS Benmohr bound for India, collided with the SS Banffshire, a refrigerated cargo steamer, in thick fog in the River Thames Estuary off the Canvey Island coast.

CP065

The SS Benmohr settled by the stern and sank off Thorney Bay, Canvey Island. There are no reports of any casualties. In June 1902, she was raised and taken to a River Tyne shipyard for repairs. Her cargo of cement barrels had solidified due to their immersion, but Canvey developer Frederick Hester purchased them to build a jetty and also used them as foundations for several new buildings.

The SS Banffshire was repaired and sailed for Australia in May 1902. After repairs the SS Benmohr continued maritime duties, being sold to a Japanese company in 1911, until wrecked off the coast of Japan in 1927.

The SS Benmohr stamp features a 1902 contemporary sketch by Tom Merry. A total of 160 stamps have been produced.

CILP stamps are shipped worldwide from Alpha Thematics on Ebid UK. 

Postmaster