Brinworld: Streisand sues amateur coastal photographer at californiacoastline.org

Tyler Durden camera_lumina at hotmail.com
Fri May 30 19:00:57 PDT 2003


You think that's bad?

I know someone who was offerred $1,000 a night to play lead trumpet for 
Streisand. When he heard that a major requirement was that he was not to 
"lock eyes onto Streisand" (ie, look at her), he declined the offer.

-TD


>From: "Major Variola (ret)" <mv at cdc.gov>
>To: "cypherpunks at lne.com" <cypherpunks at lne.com>
>Subject: Brinworld: Streisand sues amateur coastal photographer at   
>californiacoastline.org
>Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 13:46:09 -0700
>
>Barbra Streisand has filed a lawsuit against an amateur photographer,
>claiming he is violating her privacy by displaying a picture of her
>bluff-top Malibu estate on a Web site designed to document erosion and
>excessive development along California's 1,150-mile coastline.
>
>The lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Santa Monica, besides seeking $10
>million in damages, asks retired software engineer Kenneth Adelman to
>remove the image of Streisand's mansion from the 12,000 photos he has
>posted on http://www.californiacoastline.org. Adelman and his wife,
>Gabrielle, have been snapping pictures for months from their helicopter
>to show the splendors of the coastline and what they consider
>environmental threats.
>
>"The quality of the photographs is staggering," the lawsuit says, so
>anyone with an Internet connection can view the layout of Streisand's
>pool, the positioning of her parasols and deck chairs, as well as the
>location of her windows, French doors and balconies of her main and
>guest houses  none of which are visible from the ground outside the
>estate.
>
>The singer and actress has taken steps to shield her private life from
>public view and protect her privacy, says the lawsuit, which argues that
>the photograph intrudes on her privacy and violates a state law that
>targets the prying telephoto lenses of paparazzi.
>
>But Adelman's lawyer dismissed the lawsuit as one without legal merit
>and as an effort to intimidate his client.
>
>"Mr. Adelman is not a paparazzo. He's not doing this for profit, or
>stalking anyone," said his lawyer Richard Kendall. "He is engaged in a
>public-interest effort to document the entire coast to preserve it from
>degradation. He's not about to carve out exceptions for celebrities who
>don't want to be identified as owning coastal land."
>
>Kendall said the photograph of Streisand's house, which includes two
>neighboring houses, does not capture an image of Streisand or any other
>person. "There isn't a constitutional right to privacy of the placement
>of your parasols and deck chairs on your outside patio," Kendall said.
>"The anti-paparazzi statute is designed to prevent trespass and the
>stalking of celebrities. He is shooting from a helicopter far offshore,
>and the statute does not immunize beachfront mansions from aerial
>photographs."
>
>Streisand's lawyer, John Gatti, said the lawsuit was filed under seal,
>which specifically requires that the complaint not be publicly released
>until a judge determines whether it should be released or kept private.
>
>"An important civil right of privacy is involved," Gatti said. "The
>lawsuit seeks to establish the extent to which individuals are protected
>against technologically enhanced encroachment into their private
>property."
>
>Alonzo Wickers, a 1st Amendment lawyer who represents television
>networks and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, said it will
>be difficult for Streisand to prove an intrusion into her privacy or a
>violation of the anti-paparazzi law because she does not appear in the
>photograph.
>
>"If it were a picture of her sunbathing topless, they might have a
>case," Wickers said. The legal standard, he said, is capturing an image
>that would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.
>
>"It's very hard to argue that the appearance of her backyard would be
>highly offensive to a reasonable person," he said. "The standard is not
>what's offensive to a reclusive celebrity who is highly concerned about
>her privacy and security."
>
>Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, Caltech graduates who retired in their
>30s after selling two start-up software companies for $445 million, have
>been using digital photography to snap pictures of every inch of the
>coastline.
>
>She flies their helicopter while he leans out the side snapping pictures
>in an effort to record images of every cliff, beach, rocky outcropping
>and sign of development along the coast.
>
>Adelman said he takes his pictures from an elevation of 500 feet in
>public airspace over the ocean, shooting back toward the shore  using a
>standard lens, not the enormous telephoto lenses preferred by paparazzi.
>
>The lawsuit contends that the high resolution of the photographs allows
>Web site browsers to click their way to a considerably larger and more
>detailed view of Streisand's home. Browsers can also pick out
>Streisand's home because the photo includes a caption that identifies it
>as "Streisand Estate, Malibu."
>
>In two letters to Adelman, Streisand's lawyers demanded that he remove
>the photograph or face legal consequences, including punitive damages
>and attorneys' fees.
>
>Adelman refused, citing protection under the 1st Amendment to publish
>such photographs.
>
>He said he didn't target Streisand's home and didn't add the caption
>below the photograph. He said he made the Web site interactive so that
>anyone from the public can add captions to any photo to help identify
>various features along the coastline. Someone did, he said.
>
>He also noted that his Web site does not list Streisand's address,
>unlike other Web sites that provide virtual tours and maps of homes of
>the stars, including hers.
>
>Adelman said his project is an effort to establish a photographic record
>of the entire coast and that he doesn't want to begin exempting certain
>areas. The only place he has yet to photograph is Vandenberg Air Force
>Base, which has so far denied him permission to fly by on the grounds
>that his photos might pose a security risk.
>
>Adelman said about 620,000 viewers have inspected the Web site so far,
>including university researchers and local, state and federal agencies,
>among them the California Coastal Commission and the U.S. Geological
>Survey.
>
>A status conference on the case is set for Aug. 28 before Superior Court
>Judge Allan J. Goodman.
>
>http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-barbra30may30,1,4414970.story?coll=la%2Dhome%2Dtodays%2Dtimes

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