[liberationtech] Snowden masks for Holloween?

[Shava Nerad]

No one elected him and he may have volunteered for the spotlight but not in
the same way that some one does when they campaign for office.  Even movie
stars have a right to their visages.  Where you could say that a sign "We
are all Snowden" is political speech,  citizen Snowden also has rights to
privacy and dignity,  and commercial rights that he does not abandon by
being a well-knnown whistleblower, any more than say Rush Limbaugh would by
being a well-known radio personality.  Just see how fast the lawyers would
be layered on top of you if you tried to make Rush masks for Halloween
without licensing on the basis of him being a public figure -- and he's
been part of our cultural landscape far longer.  Scarier,  too. ;)

SN
On Sep 2, 2013 7:43 PM, "Paul Elliott" <pelliott at blackpatchpanel.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 02, 2013 at 05:44:41PM -0400, Shava Nerad wrote:
> > Wouldn't there be a licensing issue?  It's a hard argument that he has no
> > right to the commercial exploitation of his likeness on the basis of
> being
> > a fugitive whistleblower,  and I doubt anyone is authorized as an agent
> to
> > grant that license on his behalf.
> >
> > We have these privacy laws about just using people's images without
> > permission.  They are a bit like copyright, but say you can't exploit the
> > subject matter without permission,  for profit,  with a few exceptions.
> > (Face not recognizable,  press reports on "public figures, " release form
> > signed,… ).
> >
> > CSJ ethics guidelines and EFF's bloggers' guides and Berkman's guide for
> > media creators have good outlines for US law on this stuff.
> >
> > Also my union has a nice guide,  the National Writer's Union (AFL-CIO)
> > which I only mention because it's behind a paywall -- and also to explain
> > that since it's May Day… er...Labor Day here in the states, I am lazily
> > quoting all this off the top of my head and making you verify and look up
> > the links.  I am on holiday. ;)
> >
>
> Is not Snowden a public figure? I am sure bush and obama did
> not approve all the bush and obama masks?
>
> --
> Paul Elliott                               1(512)837-1096
> pelliott at BlackPatchPanel.com               PMB 181, 11900 Metric Blvd
> Suite J
> http://www.free.blackpatchpanel.com/pme/   Austin TX 78758-3117
>
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