TinEye

= TinEye = toc TinEye is a “reverse search engine” developed by a Canadian company, Idée Inc.Idée is an independent, privately held company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It offers other products as well, including: SImilar to Google's image search, rather than using keywords and metadata to find an image, TinEye uses “image identification technology.” It has indexed 2,050,455,625 images already and is continuously indexing millions per day. It offers both free and paid-for versions. Free is constituted as "non-commercial use," while the paid version allows compainies to purchase searches in advance "via pre-paid bundles."
 * [|PixID], which monitors editorial images for the news and entertainment industry
 * [|Piximilar], which offers "visual similarity searches" for large photo collections.
 * [|PixMatch] "automated image matching and deduplication service" whose clients include eBay, Getty images, and Digg.

How Does TinEye Work?
Users can submit images to be searched and TinEye then creates a "digital fingerprint" of the image. It then compares this unique fingerprint to all the other images it has indexed to retrive matches. This "reverse" search process is how they style themselves--the user submits the image rather than using keywords such as image searches on Goolge. Accordingly, "TinEye does not typically find similar images (i.e. a different image with the same subject matter); it finds exact matches including those that have been cropped, edited or resized." Thus it would not find images that have the user's submitted image content--only precise image matches. It also does not use facial image techonology, but counts on its "fingerprint" technology to retrieve its results. TinEye accepts JPEG, PNG, and GIFF formats and offers guidelines as to the image's size and dimensions. Users can register for an account in which case their images are saved, other wise non-registered users' images will be deleted within 72 hours. Its FAQ page is very thorough about what TinEye can do and the services it offers.

Why Use TinEye?
media type="youtube" key="PXfVBNmB1LA" height="315" width="560" There are many implications for to use TinEye, including: As mentioned, registered users can create free accounts for non-commercial use, which allows for up to 50 searches a day, 150 searches per week. The paid version of TinEye includes a user interface just like the one at tineye.com, as well as an API for integrating TinEye with your own website or system. As shown here in one of TinEye's saved search examples, the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album cover was searched, with over 3000 matches. Users can then sort the order by "Best Match," "Most Changed," or "Biggest Image." There is also a "Compare" feature that allows users to switch between the submitted image and the result image, allowing the user to compare the diferences between the two and notice how much the retrieved image may have been modified.
 * Find out where an image came from, or get more information about it
 * Research or track the appearance of an image online
 * Find higher resolution versions of an image
 * Locate web pages that make use of an image you have created
 * Discover modified or edited versions of an image



Copyright Questions and using TinEye
Whether for personal use or for commercial Web site developers, TinEye has both disadvantages and advantages for users' own images and copyright infringement. TinEye is explicit that copyright for a submitted image is to the original owner, and also makes clear that it is up to user to contact the owner of a matched image if the user wants to utilize the image found. What TinEye doesn't indicate is if the user is submitting an image that is already copyrighted--there seem to be many indications here of infringement. Plus how does TinEye know if a submitted image has been copyrighted? Its policies are not clear, in non-existent for these questions. At the same time, TinEye can be tremendously valuable for users to find how their images are being used, by whom, and if infringement is involved. For commercial developers especially, TinEye can help them see if their Web images are being illegally shared, or as external links that might help to promote their sites. As Chapman indicates in his article, for consultants and developers, "one of the things you always want to be conscious of are the personas you create for your clients and/or for your link-building endeavors" (2010). By using TinEye, developers can check their clients' sites by realizing how the sites' images are being dissimulated throught the Web.

**References**
About TinEye (2011). Retrieved from http://www.tineye.com/about

About Idée (2011). Retrieved from http://ideeinc.com/about/

Chapman, Steven (2010). "SEO sleuth: How to track down a target CSI-style." Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/seo/seo-sleuth-how-to-track-down-a-target-csi-style/1720

TinEye FAQ (2011). Retrieved from http://www.tineye.com/faq