Infosec Pioneers Outraged by NFTs Featuring Unauthorized Portraits

An NFT drop celebrating infosec pioneers has caused anger in the crypto space due to using unauthorized portraits of the infosec experts it aimed to celebrate.

The Verge reports that an unauthorized non-fungible token (NFT) collection containing portraits of infosec pioneers has descended into chaos after many of the individuals it aimed to celebrate objected to their likeness being included in the collection.

The NFT collection was released on Christmas Day by a group called “ItsBlockchain.” The collection is called the “Cipher Punks” and included portraits of 46 distinct figures in the infosec space, with ten copies of each token.

The full value of the drop was around $4,000 but objections to the collection were raised almost immediately, including some by the subjects of the portraits. Multiple names were misspelled on the portraits, including EFF speech activist Jillian York and OpenPGP creator Jon Callas. One drawing was also based on a copyright-protected photograph.

York tweeted a link to her own portrait and simply said: “I don’t approve of this whatsoever and would like it removed.”

In a Medium post, ItsBlockchain stated that it would be “shutting down” the collection due to the backlash and offered full refunds to any purchasers. “We were not aware of the likeness laws in NFTs as the market is not regulated,” the post stated. “It’s our mistake. We have to own up to it.”

Read more at the Verge here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com