Well that was fast. Only a day after news broke of the controversial Massachusetts ruling that 'upskirt' photographs were in fact legal according to the states Peeping Tom laws, the state's legislature has responded by passing a ban.
In what is quite possibly the creepiest photo-related ruling we've ever run across, the Supreme Judicial Court in Boston has ruled that 'upskirt' photographs taken in public by sneaky perverts are actually 100% legal.
An advocacy group concerned with the issue of campaign finance reform recently managed to capture some footage that has never been captured before: video from inside the Supreme Court.
Just over a week ago, we reported on the news that a US law firm was collecting information from disgruntled Nikon D600 users for a potential class action lawsuit. Well, it turns out they're actually late to the game. Three days after that story broke, a few other law firms actually filed a class action suit against the Japanese camera giant.
The folks over at PDN recently sat down with National Press Photographers Association attorney Mickey Osterreicher to talk about photographers' rights, police intimidation and how to handle yourself around cops who don't understand what you are and are not allowed to photograph.
Buckle up, because this is a copyright battle that has hit rock bottom and started digging with gusto. How much gusto? Lets just say that the he-said-she-said nature of this ferocious back-and-forth between a photographer and a magazine that used her photo without permission makes the whole Color Run debacle look tame.
A US law firm is in the process of collecting information from upset Nikon D600 owners to possibly file a class action lawsuit against the Japanese camera giant over the D600's widely-reported sensor dust/oil issues.
Update: The Color Run has responded to our request for comment. Read their side of the story at the bottom.
The video above was created for Brooklyn couple Monica Nikchemny and Felix Komrash when they got married back in September of 2012. It's only a short preview video (a longer version is included bellow) but you can tell that wedding videography company Visualaz did a great job putting together a memorable wedding video.
We all-too-frequently find ourselves sharing stories of police officers abusing the power they have been given by harassing and often threatening to arrest photographers even if they have done nothing wrong.
As it turns out, we all might have some skin in the Daniel Morel vs. AFP/Getty Images copyright game; and we're not just talking about emotional investment here, there are serious precedents being set.
At first, The Atlantic's profile of the duo behind the mega-popular @HistoryInPics Twitter feed reads like your standard "young geniuses find lucrative economic niche in this crazy new media world" piece.
Purloining somebody else's photos to promote your photography business has become depressingly common lately, but occasionally a new cretin comes forward to push the practice to a new level of sadness.
Getty Images and Agence France Presse are avid protectors of their own copyright privileges. But when the chaussure is on the other foot? …
You know, it used to be even photography thieves had to put some work in if they wanted to get a bit of dishonest business, but a new project by the name of Pro-folio shows that just a little bit of code can make stealing photos and creating a whole fake portfolio a one-click affair.
In the most recent installment of police officer vs. photographer, a UK man who began taking pictures near the scene of a car accident was approached by an irate officer who yelled and cursed at him, confiscated his camera and threatened to arrest him and make his life a "living hell."
Many of you are familiar with the website PhotoStealers, which acts as "a wall of shame... dedicated to photographers that feel that it's okay to steal others work and post it as their own." Photo theft is expertly weeded out and exposed by the site's creator, who has taken on some big names including Jasmine Star and Doug Gordon.
It's common knowledge that the Giottos Rocket Blowers and the TSA don't get along. In the past we've told you to just leave it at home unless you want it confiscated with no more reason than "it looks like a bomb." But the reason photographer and Canon Rumors forum user Surapon got was a whole lot more entertaining than that.
We take no responsibility if you're all of a sudden afraid to take your camera anywhere after reading this (especially if you have a Nikon D7000 or a Canon 60D), but this gear theft infographic by anti-theft service Lenstag is packed interesting information that we think every photographer should be aware of.
Lenstag's stated goal is to put a stop to camera and lens theft, and for that reason alone photographers love them. The service is basically an online registry where you can securely document all of the gear you own and, in the event the unthinkable happens, report it as stolen and make it much more difficult for the thieves to sell that piece of gear.
This was NOT a good week for moronic criminals with access to Instagram. After posting a bunch of ill-advised selfies on the photo sharing site, a Florida teenager now finds himself behind bars and facing 142 felony counts thanks to his oversharing habit.
The Polaroid iM1836 has had a rough go of it since it first burst onto the scene at last year's CES. Nobody seemed to think the camera was anything to write home about, and its similarity to Nikon's 1-Series cameras was undeniable.
News regarding the Chicago Sun-Times and its former photo staff is usually of the negative variety. Whether we were covering how the entire staff was unceremoniously laid off, or the fact that they were being replaced by iPhone photography classes, there hasn't been much positive news to report.
The Daniel Morel vs AFP/Getty Images saga has been going on since 2010 when the agencies first pulled his photos off of Twitter and distributed them without permission to several major publications. Now the saga has finally ended, and ended on very happy terms for Morel, who is walking away from the deal $1.2 million richer.
Living in Alabama, one of the more frequent pieces of trivia I hear mentioned at social gatherings has to do with ridiculous state and city laws that are so ludicrous as to be unbelievable. The thing is, these laws exist, and not just in the great state of Alabama.
Sure, Instagram has provided some folks with a ready-made market for selling illegal items or doing unsavory things, but the photo sharing services has also expanded the boundaries of how incompetent a crook can be.
Instagram has recently been forced to add a number of drug-related terms to its growing list of a banned hashtags in an effort to cut down on illegal drug sales via the photo sharing site.
No matter how good your intentions, any tool can be perverted and used for a negative purpose that was never intended. That is the case with Instagram right now, as reports are coming out of Philly that an anonymous account has been 'ratting out' witnesses of violent crimes by posting photos, police statements and testimonies.
It's always nice when we stumble across a copyright case that doesn't lead to wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth, rare as that might be. So when we ran across the news that a photographer pulled in $1.6 million in a copyright lawsuit, we just had to share it.
You might not thing there was much economic clout left in the Kodak brand, but apparently it still carries some weight in the courtroom.
From antique pistols to high-powered assault rifles, Instagram has emerged as the leading online marketplace for guns. And, even more troubling, it seems few of the sales violate the law or even Instagram policy.
Seven sports photographers are suing the National Football League, Getty Images and the Associated Press in a complex case that argues the agencies went too far in allowing their images to be freely used for promotions by the league.
In the digital age, having your photos stolen usually indicates copyright infringement by someone who decided to use your work without permission online. But for Ukranian-born photographer Aleksandr "Sasha" Onyshchenko, the term recently took on the old definition: two of his prints were literally stolen right out of the gallery they were being displayed at in broad daylight!
New York Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota may be running as a law and order guy, but apparently the "law" part doesn't cover intellectual property.
It's not uncommon for cameras to look similar in this day and age. Even the Sony A7 and A7r, which haven't even been released yet, are being described as "OM-D-like" by rumor sites. But at what point does "similarity" cross the line to "infringement." …
The Taj Mahal is a World Heritage Site, and as such, according to India’s Heritage Act, all commercial activity is banned on the premises. That didn't faze Miss Universe Olivia Culpo, however, who now faces charges that could lead to fines and jail time for shooting what seemed like an ad for footwear.
Media outlets may need to start considering the possible psychological effects of difficult assignments on their photojournalists in the wake of an Australian photographer's claim of crippling post-traumatic stress.
A couple of days ago we ran across this strange article online. Very short on details, what we know is that a man was seen taking photos of children in a suburb of Toronto a few days ago, and is now being sought after by police.
Normally, we wouldn't give much attention to the thoughts of an editor/publisher for a small community newspaper. But the response to photographer Kristen Pierson's notice of copyright infringement and invoice for payment is such a classic compendium of bad thinking on intellectual property that it would be a disservice not to share it ... just so you know what you're up against.
Prestigious agency Magnum Photos says it is about to roll out a paid membership system in hopes of turning illegal downloaders into paying customers. The move comes a little more than a year after the agency did away with watermarks on its main site, reasoning that they did little to discourage determined downloaders.
Some would say that the Olympus accounting scandal is officially over, insofar as jail sentences (or, rather, the lack thereof) have been doled out by the Japanese justice system. Even the company's stock has rebounded and is currently sitting about 25% higher than it was before the dive it took when the company's seedy business dealings came to light.
British photographer Jason Sheldon has won a settlement of £20,000 (about $32,300 US) over a stolen image of his (seen above), after initially being offered less than one percent of that.
Wedding photography can be a rough business. And although the photographers have plenty to worry about (i.e. irate ministers and getting your gear stolen), clients would do well to be careful too, lest they get duped by con artists like New Jersey's Michael De Rubeis.
Boy, is Kanye West going to feel like a wuss when he hears about this. Turns out that if you're really serious about putting paparazzi in their place, nothing short of homicide will do anymore.
It's one thing to swipe a photo and slap it on your website, and quite another to enter that stolen image into a high-profile photo contest passed off as your own work.
Be careful when photographing sculptures for commercial purposes -- you could quickly find yourself on the losing end of a copyright infringement case and being forced to pay a lot of money.
Stock photography heavyweight Getty Images is in some hot water after being sued by a model over the use of her portrait in an HIV-positive advertisement.
Collecting vintage equipment isn't an uncommon hobby among photography and camera enthusiasts, but it is one that has apparently gotten one Ukrainian man in trouble with the law. A well-known collector and dealer named Alexandr Komarov (seen above) was recently arrested for possessing decades-old Soviet spy cameras, and now faces up to 7 years in prison for the offense.
Don't want trouble with the US Government? Then you might want to reconsider photographing anything that might cause suspicion among law enforcement -- especially if you're Middle Eastern or a 'Chinese national.' A newly published document has revealed that government agencies have been compiling lists of "suspicious activity" reports, many of which contain records of photographers legally taking pictures of bridges, dams, courthouses, and post offices.
As copyright disputes go, this one sits squarely on the border between strange and stranger. We've seen plenty of people have their photography rights infringed upon, and it wasn't even that long ago we saw it happen over Instagram, but we've never seen the president of an entirely republic make that mistake.
