taking pictures from the sky

On Fri, 16 May 2008 17:43:43 -0700, C J Campbell
wrote in
2008051617434343658-christophercampbell@hotmailcom:

Interesting information. Thanks.

Regarding:

Barbara Streisand sued a photographer who took a picture of her house
from the air. She not only lost, but the photographer was awarded his
legal costs. The next photographer might not be so lucky. Streisand
obviously irritated the court by asserting a right to deny access to
anyone she felt like to the airspace above her house. A smarter
plaintiff would have simply asserted invasion of privacy or copyright
infringement and might have won.


http://www.californiacoastline.org/s...d/lawsuit.html
Barbra Streisand Sues to Suppress Free Speech Protection for
Widely Acclaimed Website

Barbra Streisand, known for espousing pro-environmental views and
criticizing those who don't, has sued the California Coastal
Records Project, a landmark photographic database of over 12,000
frames of the California coast shot since 2002, asserting that the
inclusion of a single frame that includes her blufftop Malibu
estate invades her privacy, violates the "anti-paparazzi" statute,
seeks to profit from her name, and threatens her security. Other
defendants in the case are the Project's Internet Service
Provider, Layer42.NET, and Pictopia.COM, who provides finished
prints of the photographs.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since shortly after our web site "went live", Barbra Streisand has
been complaining about a photograph on our web site, 3% of which
covers her home. In February 2003, we received a threatening
letter from her attorney, John Gatti of Alschuler Grossman Stein &
Kahan LLP, demanding that we "immediately cease and desist from
photographing and displaying and identifying photographs of Ms.
Streisand's home on the website www.californiacoastline.org
[...]".


The photo Barbra Streisand is complaining about
We refuse to be intimidated by these tactics, which would
undermine our constitutional protection of free speech and which
would compromise the integrity of this historical and scientific
database. As a result of which, we received a second threatening
letter.

Our goal is to create a complete record of the California
coastline. This record has been used by a number of government,
university, press, and environmental groups (partial list) free of
charge. It is not possible to provide the public with a complete
record without the photographs of the coast that happen to include
Ms. Streisand's estate. We do not believe in giving special
treatment to wealthy coastal land owners.

Ms. Streisand, who purports to espouse the First Amendment right
of freedom of speech (See "My Thoughts On Freedom of Speech"
(scroll down to "My Thoughts"), at www.barbrastreisand.com)
apparently feels differently when the publication of a photograph
shows her backyard.

Here is a copy of the Complaint that Ms. Streisand filed against
us in Superior Court in Los Angeles. Here is a complete set of
court documents. All of her claims are frivolous and will be
vigorously defended.

Read our full press release here HTML:
http://www.californiacoastline.org/s...e-lawsuit.html
or PDF.
http://www.californiacoastline.org/s...se-lawsuit.pdf

Or read some of the rants we've been receiving.