With NFTs becoming more and more popular, many new questions arise. Some people are tempted by the price of digital art presented as NFT, and others want to know what benefits you get from NFT ownership. But some astute internet users are interested in what would happen if you screenshot NFT under someone else’s verification ownership.
Well, we will try to answer that crazy question in this article.
What is NFT and how is digital art different from physical art?
But before delving into the question itself, it would be best for us to define what NFT projects are. Imagine that you are an artist living in the 21st century. You really want to produce digital artwork, but how will you protect your digital art from fraud and people who want to steal it?
Leonardo Da Vinci faced neither of these problems with his original painting of the Mona Lisa, since the only way to get it for criminals was to steal Leo. But the piece of digital artwork is very different than it was a long time ago.
Fortunately, with the development of web3, digital assets in the form of tokens, and blockchain technology, the first NFT was launched in 2012. Almost any form of digital art can be presented as an NFT. But what does it mean for a creation to be NFT?
Well, you set a special online signature for your artwork stored within a blockchain. The signature is publicly available to anyone and contains details about the rightful owner of the NFT, everyone who previously owned the property (buyers), and the time it was sold (transferred). NFT without a signature is not intrinsically valuable, and just being an image from the internet is an impression of NFT.
What will happen if someone takes NFT screenshots?
The creators of the NFT concept and the web3 community are geniuses when it comes to internet technologies. And, of course, they know what is going on on the net and about the number of scammers and other people who would like to get some easy money. Of course, NFT developers were building their projects thinking about how criminals would want to steal them, so they created a unique NFT signature.
As you will remember from the previous paragraph, all the valuable data about NFTs is inside a signature. If someone takes a screenshot of an NFT, they will not have access to the signature. It will just be a regular image of the artwork that you can share, look at and admire.
Can a person who took a shot sell it as a digital asset?
A simple rule in our world applies to sales: you can’t sell anything you don’t own. And the same concept applies to NFTs and other digital assets. The NFTs screenshot does not give you any verified ownership, so you cannot sell the original copy of the NFT without authenticity.
But a person with a screenshot can try to perform some kind of fraudulent scheme. You can fool other users who do not have enough knowledge about NFT platforms or who are just starting out. By doing so, criminals can sell many NFT screenshots that are worthless without a signature. That is why every new NFT user should carefully examine the topic before becoming an NFT buyer.
What to do if my NFT artwork was captured?
Based on the example just given, you can conclude that there is no problem with the screenshot. Therefore, your NFT ownership rights can never be violated just by someone taking a screenshot of your NFT.
Even more interesting is that thousands of NFT screenshots are taken daily. They are used to review NFTS and just display them. So if someone will take a screenshot of your original artwork, you can thank them for the potential announcement.
Can you sue a person who takes a screenshot of your NFT?
Since you know how NFTs work, it should be obvious to you that artists cannot sue anyone who is capturing an NFT. Although NFT theft is regulated by law, since it is a complete digital asset, the image of the NFT itself cannot be an occasion for a court appeal.
Let’s go back to the Mona Lisa again. At this time, she proudly hangs in the halls of the famous Louvre museum. And try to answer the question, can someone sue a person for taking a photo of Leonardo’s creation? The answer is obviously no! There are hundreds of tourists taking countless pictures of the famous painting, but none of them violate the rights of ownership and authenticity. And the same rule applies to NFTs.
Can you screenshot non-NFT digital art?
NFTs are unique works of art that can be found within a blockchain network and cannot simply be copied. But what if an artist creates a piece of digital painting that isn’t registered as a token?
The NFT signature is used to make it more comfortable, basically holding and transferring ownership rights. And if your art doesn’t have a signature like most NFTs, the difference is that it can be copied and stolen. For example, if you’ve created a poster image that you want to use for your blog project. If someone steals a file with that artwork, you can make someone pay for it and make a profit on your work.
In such cases, you can try to sue a criminal as you have all the legal rights to do so. You just need to make sure you have enough evidence of owning a certain piece of art.
How can someone steal an NFT?
Although NFTs are very secure as they are located within a blockchain technology that is immensely difficult to hack, some hacking groups are able to do so. To do that, they must find a flaw in the system that allows them to access valuable data. With that, criminals can access your wallet app and get the NFTs.
Sometimes blockchain services can fail, causing the NFT to get the wrong owner. But such cases are resolved quickly with a support system.
Conclusion
So, as you can see, stealing and capturing NFTs is a common misconception popularized by people who don’t know enough about web3 and blockchain features in the early stages of NFT development. If someone takes a screenshot of the NFT you own, you shouldn’t care much, and all you can do is accept it. Remember that all valuable NFT data is inside a signature that cannot be easily stolen.
FAQs
Is it illegal to save an NFT?
No, it’s completely legal, since you’re not stealing the real thing.
Can you just copy an NFT?
Of course, you can copy someone’s NFTs, but it won’t give them any value, since blockchain technology uses a special signature that shows ownership of the NFTs.
Can you steal NFT?
Yes, you can steal NFTs, but to do so, you need to know the principles of how blockchain technology works and hack it (which is very difficult).
What happens if someone takes a screenshot of an NFT?
Basically nothing happens when you take a screenshot of NFT. The image can even be posted on Twitter or other social networks. It’s completely fine.
