Eric Hamilton – Celebrity / DJ / Nightlife Photographer

Posts Tagged ‘law’

Glowsticking.com recently posted an article about Media Permissions which is disseminating patently false information. They are saying that if somebody posts a video or photo of you online, and you want it taken down, that person is required by law to comply. Not true.

If you are at a rave or night club, and somebody shoots video or stills of you, that person becomes the sole Copyright beneficiary. They do not need your permission to post the photographs or video online. You do have some conditional rights, if:

• The video or photograph is being used in a way that implies your endorsement of a product or service, such as for an advertisement.
• The video or photograph is being used in a way that is libelous (implying something about you that isn’t true).

So what about your privacy? Well, the problem with that is when you go to a party attended by hundreds of people, all toting cell phones with built-in cameras and video capability, you do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. In other words, if you don’t want a video of you drunk in a short skirt to get on the net, don’t go to a public place in a short skirt and drink — especially if there are photographers hovering about. Take a look at The Photograhper’s Right, written by attorney Bert P. Krages II.

If you find a photograph of yourself being used on an advertising billboard, you have some recourse, because model releases are required for commercial use such as advertisements. For non-commercial uses, such as posting to Flickr, you can politely ask the photographer to take it down. Often, they will comply just out of respect. Just remember, they’re not legally obligated to do so, and reporting them isn’t going to help.

Some people mis-read the “commercial use” exception in the law. They assume that all commercial uses are prohibited. In the media world, use is divided into commercial and editorial not based on whether or not the photographer is getting paid, but based on whether or not the license is being purchased for advertising, or for use in news / article contexts. Editorial uses (magazines, newspapers, etc…) do not require model releases. This is a fundamental doctrine of any democracy, where freedom of the press is an essential building block of the constitution, and model releases could get in the way.