More Troubling Proposed Anti-Social Networking Laws: CA Wants Photo Removal Law

from the get-over-it dept

It’s amazing what sort of laws politicians will come up with when they overreact to something that new technology allows, without bothering to understand the issue. It appears some California state politicians are upset about the fact that people are uploading photos and videos to social networking sites, and those photos may reveal something the subject of the photo wouldn’t like. So, they want to require any site that allows uploads of images or videos to be required to take down that content on request of a subject in that content. Yes, even if the photo or video were taken in public.

In looking over text of the bill (warning: pdf), it looks like the original idea was worse: that social networking sites would be required to prevent anyone from copying an image off of a website. It looks like someone explained to the bill’s sponsor how that’s impossible. However, even though the bill claims that it’s aimed at photos of people who had an expectation of privacy, that doesn’t appear to be anywhere in the actual text. Instead, sites would be required to take down content on the request of anyone in the image. Sites would also be responsible for verifying that the takedown request came from the person actually in the photo, though there’s no mechanism to determine how. It’s also not clear how to deal with photos that involve multiple people.

But, honestly, what’s most unclear… is why such a law is needed in the first place? It seems like a major hassle for no good reason whatsoever — especially in an era where taking photos and sharing them has become the norm for many people.

Filed Under: california, first amendment, photos, social networks

Ohio Legislator Wants To Criminalize Kids Taking Nude Pics Of Themselves

from the too-much-free-time dept

The uproar over “sexting” — kids taking nude pictures of themselves and sending them with their cameraphones — is in full swing, with lots of politicians looking to wring some publicity out of it. In our earlier post about the Pennsylvania prosecutor who threatened to bring child-porn charges against some kids for taking their own pictures, Steve L left a comment noting that a politician in Ohio plans to introduce legislation that would make sexting a misdemeanor offense. He says he wants to criminalize the activity to protect kids from the “extra burden” of being charged with felony sex offenses. It’s bizarre, though, as he says that teen sexters “did something stupid, but I don’t think anyone wants for them to be called sex offenders,” and “I think what these teens need is education about how this type of behavior could affect their lives.” So the way to educate them is to make them criminals?

Filed Under: criminalizing, ohio, photos, teens

Why Is The AP Invoking The DMCA Over The Obama Poster?

from the dmca-abuse dept

We’ve been covering the ongoing legal brouhaha between the Associated Press and Shepard Fairey over whether or not his iconic Obama poster was copyright infringement of an Associated Press photo — with most of the focus being on whether or not the use was protected by fair use. However, the EFF is noting something quite odd (and quite troubling) in the AP’s countersuit against Fairey: it’s claiming that his post violates the DMCA. That should leave you scratching your head, considering that the DMCA seems almost entirely unrelated to Fairey making a poster. But the AP seems to be claiming that in removing the little copyright notice beneath its photo, Fairey violated section 1202.

As the EFF notes, since Fairey didn’t “strip” the data from the image, but merely appears to have cropped the image for his purposes, it’s hard to see how Fairey actually violated the DMCA here. However, more to the point, the EFF explains why this is likely been thrown into the case by the AP. By invoking the DMCA, it adds much greater potential statutory fines, than for a straight copyright infringement case. That gives the AP a much bigger potential award — which it can use to pressure Fairey into settling. As the EFF points out, such huge potential fines creates a pretty massive chilling effect on others — something all too common with the DMCA.

Filed Under: copyright, dmca, fair use, photos, shepard fairey
Companies: associated press

Has Mannie Garcia Changed His Tune About Shepard Fairey's Obama Poster?

from the unfortunate,-if-true dept

The Wall Street Journal is running an editorial by L. Gordon Crovitz, discussing the ongoing legal battle between Shepard Fairey and the Associated Press over Fairey’s iconic poster of Barack Obama that was used during the campaign:

The editorial admits that the legal issues aren’t entirely clear, but definitely seems to lean towards the AP’s side of the story, including making a rather odd assertion that this case is different than cases of people using snippets of songs on YouTube because “there’s no opportunity to license snippets of songs and no harm done” to musicians whose music is used on YouTube. Now, I actually agree that there’s really no harm done by music on YouTube, but I would imagine that some of the musicians engaged in ongoing legal battles against YouTube might disagree with Crovitz — and he’s not using the argument in the way we would. He’s saying that music on YouTube is a different story compared to the AP and the original photographer who “make their livings selling their work.” That may be true, but as I hope Crovitz knows, just because you make a living selling your work, it doesn’t mean that fair use doesn’t apply.

Also troubling is the false implication from Crovitz that since the AP and Garcia make their livings selling their work, this poster somehow diminishes that ability. I can’t see how anyone could make that claim. In both cases, it would seem to have only increased the ability of both the AP and Garcia to make money, rather than decreased it. This particular photo wasn’t exactly a huge money maker for the AP or Garcia — and now it (and they!) are getting a ton of attention because of it.

But, perhaps most troubling may be the quotes Crovitz uses in support of his argument from the photographer, Garcia. As we noted way back when Garcia was first identified by someone else as the photographer, he didn’t mind at all and even seemed flattered:

“I know artists like to look at things; they see things and they make stuff. It’s a really cool piece of work…. I wouldn’t mind getting a signed litho or something from the artist to put up on my wall.”

But, when Crovitz spoke to him, he seems to have changed his tune:

“When I found out, I was disappointed in the fact that someone was able to go onto the Internet and take something that doesn’t belong to them and then use it. That part of this whole story is crucial for people to understand: that simply because it’s on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s free for the taking, and just because you can take it doesn’t mean it belongs to you.”

It’s really too bad if Garcia has changed his tune. It was really great, for once, to see someone flattered that their work inspired someone to do something great with it, rather than becoming litigious.

Filed Under: copyright, fair use, mannie garcia, photos, shepard fairey
Companies: associated press

Slate Realizes It Has A Valuable Community

from the take-a-hint dept

What will be the defining picture of today’s economic crisis? The ’30s had bread lines and the ’70s had gas lines, but as Slate points out, “in many ways this economic crisis, despite its deepening severity, has been less visible than previous ones. You can’t take a photograph of a collateralized debt obligation.” So, like any smart media company these days, Slate is turning to the community for help capturing that iconic moment.

To do so, Slate has created a Flickr pool entitled Shoot the Recession that currently has more than 100 user-contributed photos in it. NPR’s Planet Money has been doing this, too, but because Slate is more visual, it would seem that more people would be motivated. This is a smart move – it lowers the expense for Slate to report on the crisis and recognizes that people are motivated by things other than money (reputation being the big one here). But it is also smart because instead of reinventing the wheel, Slate loosely joins together another small piece of the web – Flickr. Though there is still a lot more Slate and its peers can do, this is a step in the right direction.

Filed Under: community, news, photos, planet money
Companies: slate

Is Anything In Shepard Fairey's Image Actually Copyrightable By The AP?

from the searching...-searching...-searching... dept

With a lawsuit underway after the Associated Press accused artist Shepard Fairey of copyright infringement over his iconic Barack Obama poster (Fairey initiated the actual lawsuit, asking for a declaratory judgment that his image did not infringe, but that was after the AP publicly stated they were going to go after him for infringement), many are looking over the legal issues, and examining whether or not Fairey’s use is fair use. In our initial post on the subject, it seemed pretty obvious that it was fair use, in large part because the AP didn’t even realize it was an AP photo until someone else pointed it out — suggesting that it was a transformative work, which represents a big part of the “test” for fair use.

However, law professor Peter Friedman, has a very interesting look at some of the relevant case law, pointing out that courts have clearly said that the elements of a photograph that are copyrightable are only those elements created by the photographer. He quotes some recent court rulings that have found that the copyright only covers those specific things (e.g., “posing the subjects, lighting, angle, selection of film and camera, evoking the desired expression, and almost any other variant involved”), but elements beyond that are not covered by copyright. Friedman then points out that Fairey’s image uses none of those supposedly copyrightable elements.

Basically, Fairey used Obama’s pose — which was not set up by the photographer, thus not covered — and changed pretty much everything else about the image. So, he’s wondering, what in the iconic image actually is covered by copyright?

Fairey’s poster was not a copy of the photograph. It used one element, the angle of Obama’s face, and changed everything else from the photograph. I doubt the choice of the angle was a creative choice on the part of the photographer. First, I would be surprised if the angle was not forced on him by the place the photographic pool was required to be, and, second, the angle is so generic that I can hardly imagine it represents the kind of creative decision that amounts to originality. If Fairey had simply painted a copy of the photograph, I’d agree that it was an infringement. But he didn’t. He changed everything except the angle of the head. And surely the choice of subject matter for the photograph was not a creative one.

Filed Under: copyright, fair use, peter friedman, photos, shepard fairey
Companies: associated press

Is It Copyright Infringement On Fashion Design To Post Photos From A Fashion Show Online?

from the certainly-hope-not dept

For many years, we’ve discussed how the fashion industry is a great example of an industry that is more innovative, more prolific and more dynamic due to the lack of intellectual property protection. In fact studies have repeatedly shown that it’s the very lack of copyright over clothing designs that has made the overall industry so successful. It encourages continued innovation and adaptation, while the fact that there are knockoffs actually helps to increase the value of original authentic designs, while permeating design concepts throughout the fashion world.

However, that hasn’t stopped designers from trying to gain copyright advantages over clothing designs, and one ongoing case suggests how ridiculous this concept could be. An online publication is being sued by two French fashion designers, not for creating knockoff clothing, but for daring to post photos online of the fashion designers clothing lines, which they demonstrated at a fashion show. The website sent its own photographers to the show (so it’s not a case of them reposting someone else’s photos). A French court sided with the designers (French design protectionism shows up again…), and now the case has moved to the US to see if the designers can collect.

The fact that the case has gotten as far as it has is pretty ridiculous. It’s nearly impossible to see how posting photos you took yourself at a fashion show could violate someone else’s copyright on clothing, but that’s what we get in this world where too many people consider copyright something that provides full and total ownership of a concept, rather than a limited monopoly solely for the incentive to create. While the case right now hinges around the traditional four factors test for fair use, you have to wonder why we’ve never established a simpler test for copyright cases: if the creator knew the infringing action would occur, would they not have created the “content” in the first place? In this case, that seems laughable…

Filed Under: copyright, fashion, fashion show, photos

Google's Latest Silly Privacy Problem

from the oh-no!-someone-saw-me-outside! dept

Well now that Google’s dealt with one ridiculous privacy complaint, it appears it has another to deal with. As Google is preparing to launch its “Street View” offerings in Europe (which let people see photos of the streets they search for on Google Maps), some privacy groups are complaining how its a violation of people’s privacy. Apparently the fact that they were photographed out in public hasn’t occurred to the privacy group. Even more to the point, as Google has pointed out in response, despite the fact that anyone caught in these photographs was in public, it’s recently rolled out a system to automatically blur faces of people who end up in the Street View photos. Overall, the whole complaint seems to be much ado about nothing from privacy advocates who have much more important things to focus on.

Filed Under: europe, photos, privacy, street view
Companies: google