Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 12:39:55 -0500 (EST) From: Jon Abolins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Declan McCullagh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Streisand aerial photo case & freedom of speech
FYI. Don't have time to comment on it today but I figured that this article would be of privacy and free speech interest to the Politech readers.
J.D. Abolins
---------- URL: http://www.malibutimes.com/articles/2003/12/10/news/news6.txt
The Malibu Times News
Streisand's invasion of privacy lawsuit washes up [...] By Massiel Ladron De Guevara/Special to The Malibu Times
Malibu resident Barbra Streisand's invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against amateur photographer Kenneth Adelman washed up in a Los Angeles superior court Wednesday.
Superior Court Judge Allen J. Goodman threw out the $10 million-dollar lawsuit, requesting Adelman to remove an aerial photo he snapped of Streisand's bluff-top estate from among the 12,700 photos posted on his Web site, www.californiacoastline.org. In a tentative 46-page ruling, Goodman wrote Streisand's privacy had not been invaded by the retired software engineer who began photographing the California coastline to aid in its preservation.
"The published image [of Streisand's home] represents the exercise of Adelman's First Amendment rights in connection with a public issue and an issue of public interest," Goodman wrote. "The California coastline is far from a private place ... The purpose and function of the photograph and its publication on the California Coastal Records Project Web site are examples of speech protected by the state and federal constitutions." [...] Frustrated with the ruling, Streisand's attorney, John Gatti claims the main point of Streisand's case was never addressed.
"The decision ignored Ms. Streisand's main complaint, that her name is used on the site to identify her home as hers, while tens of thousands of other home owners are accorded anonymity," Gatti said. "The court did what it did, and focused on what it focused on, but the point remains, Ms. Streisand undertook this action because she sought to reaffirm that everyone should retain the right to preserve their privacy and security, even in this technologically invasive age."
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