rights

David Becker

Controversy Erupts After Photographs of Cosplayers Show Up on Pillows

You've had a rough day, you're bone tired and ready for bed. What would feel better than cuddling up with an image of some anonymous dude in a Superman outfit?

Yeah, I can think of a couple million things, too. But apparently there's a market for body pillows emblazoned with images of comics fans dressing as their favorite characters. The legal and ethical framework for selling them, however, is a different matter.

DL Cade

Man Points Smartphone Camera at Cop, Gets Arrested for Brandishing “Weapon”

The San Diego Police Department is in hot water with photographers and First Amendment rights advocates everywhere this week over the way two of their officers handled a situation this last Saturday.

The story and the video that goes with it -- which went viral after being shared by the website Photography is Not a Crime -- shows one of the officers violently arresting a man for exercising his right to record the officer during the course of his duties.

Michael Zhang

Photographer Forcefully Arrested After Shooting on Metrorail Platform

Photographer, blogger, and photographers rights' activist Carlos Miller has made headlines quite a few times over the past few years with his legal rumbles with authorities over photography in public places. Miller, who often instigates the disputes for the purpose of bringing photographers' rights into the spotlight, recently had another big confrontation with authorities in Miami (it's not the first time it has happened).

The video above is Miller's documentation of the incident. He says he was "attacked, choked, suffocated and handcuffed by 50 State security guards" for shooting photos and video on the Miami-Dade Metro rail this past Sunday night.

Michael Zhang

Instagram Takes Step Toward Profitability by Updating Its ToS, Causes Grumbling

Earlier this month, Facebook stated that it's working on strategies for monetizing Instagram. Now we're starting to see the gears in the money-making machine warming up.

Instagram announced an update to its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy documents today, with changes that will take effect on January 16, 2013. While it's understandable that any service's terms must change if rolls out a new business model, many users aren't pleased with what some of the updated sections say.

Michael Zhang

Canadian Photogs Now Officially Own the Copyright to All of Their Photos

A big win for photographers in Canada: as of today, you now officially own the copyright to all your photographs regardless of whether they were commissioned. The development comes as a result of Canada major copyright reform bill (Bill C-11) taking effect this morning. One of the stated goals of the new copyright law is to, "give photographers the same rights as other creators."

Michael Zhang

Newspaper Agrees to Pay Woman $400 After Sparking Debate Over Fair Use

The Portland Press Herald has agreed to fork over $400 to a woman named Audrey Ann Slade after its use of one of Slade's photos sparked a furious fair use debate online. The paper published a story last week about Reverend Robert Carlson, a minister who committed suicide recently after being accused of abusing young boys. Specifically, the piece reported on the fact that Slade's photos proved that Carlson continued to engage in on-campus events after resigning abruptly in 2006 from his position as chaplain.

Jessica Lum

New UK Policy Raises Concern Over Copyright Amongst Photographers

The UK government issued an updated copyright policy statement today that's intended to modernize copyright law in a digital era. But here's where those traditionally protected under copyright -- authors, poets, artists, photographers and so forth -- begin to cringe: sweeping definitions of "orphan works" and Extended Collective Licensing could allow companies to buy chunks of content without compensating original authors.

DL Cade

Scotland’s Largest City Set To Ban All Photography in Its Subways

Earlier today Amateur Photographer reported that the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) in Glasgow, Scotland is set to impose a series of bylaws for the cities transport, including a ban in section 12.1 which would prohibit riders from "take[ing] photographs, or make[ing] video, audio or visual recordings on any part of the subway." In fact, the only way around the ban would be to get express written permission from the SPT and show it to any officer that may request to see it.

DL Cade

US Department of Justice Defends Photographers’ Right to Record Police

Earlier we reported on two separate cases where video evidence of police shot by random citizens wound up being crucial in the exoneration of photographers arrested while doing their job. Well, appropriately enough, the US Department of Justice just recently came out in defense of the right to record police while they are on duty.

DL Cade

London Olympics Won’t Allow Sharing of Photos and Video via Social Networks

Photographers have already lodged complaints against the security firm that tried to prevent them from taking photos of the Olympic sites from public land, but it seems that even stricter rules will be imposed on ticket holders once the games begin. According to a freelance photographer named Peter Ruck, the Olympic organizing committee Locog intends to prevent attendees from uploading images and videos captured at the games to social networks.

Michael Zhang

Photographer Behind Now-Iconic ‘Texting Hillary’ Photo Wasn’t Amused — At First

During the past week, a new meme called "Texts From Hillary" has been taking the web by storm. It involves two photographs of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checking her phone on a flight while wearing sunglasses. By combining the images with other photographs and witty captions, the creators imagined what her texts conversations with other famous individuals might be like. Not everyone found the meme hilarious: the Washington Post writes that photographer Diana Walker wasn't amused when she first saw her images being used:

[...] the incident underscores the conflicts between photographers, who want to control their work, and the wide world of the Internet, where everything seems free. “There needs to be a dialogue about this,” she says.

And she wishes that people who want to grab photos from the Internet and use them for their own purposes would make an effort to contact their original creators. “Before they used it, how about a call to me?” she asked. But, she admits, that might have resulted in no such memorable meme. “I’m not sure I would have said yes.”

However, the site's creators soon added a credit line for Walker with each photo and the photographer -- along with Clinton herself -- is now "amused and taken with the idea that this picture is all over the world."

John Mueller

This Photograph Is Not Free

So this was the first sunset I captured in 2012. It cost me $6,612 to take this photo.

Michael Zhang

New Campaign Seeks to Make Metadata Permanent

EXIF data embedded in an image file can shed quite a bit of information about a photo, including how it was created and the owner of the copyright. It's useful, but can be easily stripped away. A new consortium led by three organizations (IPTC, 4A's, and ANA) is pushing to make metadata permanent.

Michael Zhang

NYT Sends Angry Letter to NYPD Over Treatment of Photographer

The New York Times has sent an angry letter to the New York Police Department after video emerged showing photojournalist Robert Stolarik being pushed around and then blocked while trying to photograph officers arresting Occupy Wall Street protestors. The memo itself hasn't be published, but NYT VP and assistant general counsel George Freeman is quoted as saying,

It seemed pretty clear from the video that the Times freelance photographer was being intentionally blocked by the police officer who was kind of bobbing and weaving to keep him from taking photographs

The department has acknowledged receiving the note from the NYT, but has not issued a formal response yet. This incident comes just weeks after Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered officers to avoid unreasonably interfering with media access during news coverage.

Michael Zhang

UK Man Questioned by Police After Cell Phone Photo of Daughter in Mall

Last Friday, 45-year-old Chris White was at the Braehead shopping center near Glasgow, when he took a snapshot of his daughter Hazel eating some ice cream. He was then confronted by security guards -- and later the police -- who cited the Prevention of Terrorism Act to explain that it was in their rights to confiscate his phone. While they did allow him to keep the photos, they demanded his personal details. Afterward, White created a Facebook page titled "Boycott Braehead" in an effort to draw attention to the incident.