Article Summaries

We had to complete two article summaries. One had to deal with the privacy rights and rights of photographers and the other was about copyright issue and photography. both articles were very informative.


Article Summary of Privacy Rights and Rights of Photographers

Kantor, A. (2009). Legal rights of photographers. Retrieved July 6, 2010, from http://www.andrewkantor.com/useful/Legal-Rights-of-Photographers.pdf.

Andrew Kantor was a news reporter in 2005. He wrote this article based on the fact that he never knew what photographs were legal or not legal. He decided to set out on his own to discover the legal issues of taking pictures. First of all, he states, “if anyone can see it, you can shoot it” (Kantor, 2009). This means if it happens in public then it is okay to take a picture of it. This article taught me legal issues come into play in the publishing or selling the photos. Basically, you can not publish or sell photos that break privacy laws, tarnish someone’s character, or use for commercial purposes. These are all common sense type of laws to me.



Article Summary about Copyright Issue and Photography

Devon, M. (2009). Copyright infringement and web content. Retrieved July 6, 2010, from http://onlinepublishingresources.suite101.com/article.cfm/copyright_infringement_and_web_c ontent.

Michelle Devon (2009) stated that “once something has gone from imagination to fixed form (paper, computer, online, etc.) the law protects that work with a copyright. This is something that I was not aware of”. She talks a lot about how the social networking sites and hotlinking are changing the legal issues of copyright. As an avid Facebook member, I can see where these issues would cause concerns. There are several times that I tag people in my pictures and they tag them again for friends without my permission. From what I understand, just because it is posted in a public domain doesn’t mean that it is public domain. You have to gain permission from the author for any text or pictures used. Basically, Devon suggested playing it safe and always getting permission.