Semi-OT: Congress about to limit artists' copyright rights

[Leo Mauler]

--- On Fri, 5/30/08, Jeffrey Watts <jeffrey.w.watts at gmail.com> wrote:

> I promise all of you this: if this law passes, I'm going
> to take a picture of my ass and register it.  I'll forward 
> it to the list~  :-D
> 
> Jeffrey.

You think you're speaking entirely in jest, but just where do you think some of the "nude body" photos come from which are used in Photoshop to create "Jennifer Aniston...Naked!!!"?

If you don't register the copyright of your ass the instant such a law passes, then your ass may end up Photoshopped into a fake "nude" photo of John McCain/Ted Kennedy (pick the one which makes you personally say "oh horror!").
 
> On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 11:35 PM, Leo Mauler
> <webgiant at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > But there are privacy issues as well.  Copyright law
> means you get to control what happens to your private work,
> and unauthorized use is punishable by the courts.  What
> happens, under the new law, if you have taken a photo which
> you do not want published?  How can you register this photo
> with a registry without revealing the contents of the
> photo?  If someone steals a photo which was created by you,
> current copyright law forbids them from publishing the
> photo.  Under the "registry requirement" of the
> "Orphan Works" law, this photo will not be found
> in any registry, and thus will be considered an
> "orphan work" and freely publishable by anyone
> without fear of prosecution.