Creating an embedding tool is a tacit acknowledgment that Getty simply can't police the use of its images to the four corners of the Internet.
Craig Peters, a senior vice president at Getty, is more explicit about the futility of trying to maintain control of its images.
Today the Getty becomes an even more engaged digital citizen, one that shares its collections, research, and knowledge more openly than ever before. We've launched the Open Content Program to share, freely and without restriction, as many of the Getty's digital resources as possible.
The initial focus of the Open Content Program is to make available all images of public domain artworks in the Getty's collections. Today we've taken a first step toward this goal by making roughly 4,600 high-resolution images of the Museum's collection free to use, modify, and publish for any purpose.