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Why You Should Never Lose Your Digital Media
kkrista writes "What would you do if you found someone's digital media card from their camera in your taxi? One such individual has decided to provide the world with 227 days of entertainment. I Found Some Of Your Life will post a photo a day and accompanying fictional narrative for the next 227 days using the photos found on a digital media card left in a cab. Is it pure genius or pure evil? Who cares? Just be thankful they're not your photos."
If you read this comment, you'll see that someone already found one of the people in the photo a while ago. The conclusion of the discussion at the time was that the participants should be allowed to 'discover for themselves.'
Hopefully the meta-drama will half as fun as the blog so far :)
(Yeah, it's pretty wrong. But hilarious.)
One of the comments posted on the blog identified this sorority as the source from another picture of one of the girls that was posted on their site.
(First, please note: I am not a lawyer, only a law student. Don't rely on this as legal advice!)
;)
That's not true. The finder has the basic common law title to the item as against all but the original owner. Title to property is relative. The finder has "worthier title" to the property than anyone but the original owner.
Now everything I'm about to say is based on the presumption that this is "lost property" rather than "abandoned property"...
This seems to be valid law in NY. See Hume v. Elder, 178 A.D. 652, 165 N.Y.S. 849 (2d Dep't 1917); Forman v. Rosetti, 38 Misc. 2d 317, 238 N.Y.S.2d 328 (City Civ. Ct. 1963); Garramone v. Simmons, 177 Misc. 330, 30 N.Y.S.2d 465 (Sup 1941)...
But at the moment he finds it, he only has an expectation of that title in NY, and he has to wait for the statutory time period to elapse, and the owner not to claim the item, for title to vest. See Bisignano v. Harrison Central School Dist., 113 F. Supp. 2d 591, 147 Ed. Law Rep. 529 (S.D.N.Y. 2000).
He gives it to the police, they keep it for a period, and when the owner doesn't claim it, and the time period expires, he can demand it back and his title vests.
The periods are described in N.Y. Pers. Prop. Law 253(7), and are basically...
* three months, if the property has a value of less than $ 100.00
* six months, if the property has a value between $ 100.00 and $ 499.99
* one year, if the property has a value between $ 500.00 and $ 4999.99
* three years, if the property has a value of $ 5000.00 or more
But there's more! This guy may be guilty of a misdemeanor:
N.Y. Pers. Prop. Law 252(1) says he has to turn it in to the cops within 10 days. 252(3) says anyone convicted of noncompliance is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $100 fine or 6 months in jail or both.
He also may be guilty of larceny:
N.Y. Penal Law 155.05(2)(b) says this could be larceny if he doesn't take reasonable measures to return the property.
Just goes to show, use your instincts about what's right, and you'll probably be much better off...
Actually...
Having government registration allows you to have a more solid footing.
What is important in Copyright infringement cases is to prove intent. In this case, the poster KNEW the content was not their's to use and fully intended to post the content up.
The poster also decided to create fake events around the pictures. This can lead to slander/libel cases if the posted content results in mental anguish, loss of job, or other personal losses.
The quality of the pictures is not the point, the theft and misuse of the pictures is.
It would be very funny if the pictures actually belonged to a law student. *grins*
Winged Power Photography
You should'a warned us you're linking to a porn site.
Regardless, it's not the same thing at all. An unprotected gallery on photobucket is much more fair game than stealing someone's memory card and platering it all over the web.
my password is private, but unchanged.
Surely, even if a 'finders-keepers' rule applies, it doesn't cover the photos, which are covered by copyright. If this is not the case, then any photograph, radio signal, dvd, etc that you found in such a juristiction would ultimately end up in the PD.
He might gain ownership of the storage device, but I doubt the content on it