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Common sense asserts itself occasionally

By Georgia Harper

I was reading about amateur photographers in Tel Aviv refusing to accept that they couldn't take pictures of a building visible on a public street (see The Patry Copyright Blog: Israeli Flashmobs and Pictures of Works of Architecture), and it reminded me of a couple of summers ago when guards or the sculptor, or someone tried to stop tourists in Chicago from taking pictures of "the bean," this fabulous reflective, monstrously large, bean-shaped sculpture in a public park there. The Internet was plastered with pictures of the bean, despite the assertion of a right that ran counter to common sense. People take pictures of things like the bean. They just do. People frankly can't believe anyone has the right to prevent such a thing. Where is the harm, they wonder. These are examples of people just saying no to overbroad claims of copyright protection. Check out the photos of Opera Tower as mobbed by photographers, and the bean, in Chicago's Millennium Park (205,000 images). This is one of the risks of passing laws that run counter to common sense and fairly run-of-the-mill human behavior -- increasing disrespect for the law. It is regrettable, but more importantly, it is preventable. Congress needs to stop the bloating of our copyright laws.

Full post as published by ©ollectanea on March 11, 2008 (boomark / email).