EFF Says Burning Man Usurps Digital Rights

Hugh Pickens writes "In a few weeks, tens of thousands of creative people will make their yearly pilgrimage to Nevada's Black Rock desert for Burning Man, an annual art event and temporary community celebrating radical self expression, self-reliance, creativity and freedom, but EFF reports that the event's Terms and Conditions include 'a remarkable bit of legal sleight-of-hand.' As soon as 'any third party displays or disseminates' your photos or videos in a manner that the Burning Man Organization (BMO) doesn't like, those photos or videos become the property of the BMO. BMO's Terms and Conditions also limits your own rights to use your own photos and videos on any public websites obliging you to take down any photos to which BMO objects, for any reason; and forbidding you from allowing anyone else to reuse your photos. This 'we automatically own all your stuff' magic appears to be creative lawyering intended to allow the BMO to use the streamlined 'notice and takedown' process enshrined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to quickly remove photos from the Internet giving BMO the power of fast and easy online censorship. 'Burning Man strives to celebrate our individuality, creativity and free spirit,' writes Corynne McSherry. 'Unfortunately, the fine print on the tickets doesn't live up to that aspiration.'"

Comments

Another liberal dream goes totalitarian

[dazedNconfuzed]

Burning Man started out as an absolute do-whatever-you-want-just-don't-kill-anyone free-for-all.
Like most liberal fantasies, it rapidly devolved into an authoritarian group usurping natural ownership and dictating rules galore.
"We automatically own all your stuff" isn't the only BMO rule totally contrary to the events original spirit.

Re:Another liberal dream goes totalitarian

[salemnic]

And to take it one step further, every person believes that there should be rules to support their moral stance alone. Including and especially liberals.

If a TOS Can Also Be A Legal Contract...

[mdwh2]

...then that's okay, my TOS on my site says that I own everything they produce. If they didn't want to accept it, they shouldn't have sold me a ticket. If they didn't read it, tough luck, that's no excuse.

So go and just don't do anything

[realsilly]

....make the event so boring that no one will ever want to go to it again. And everyone should wear face masks with out faces on them, or hold up signs saying, you don't have a right to use my face for free advertising.

Or the mask can be pictures or butts... or that horrible pic of that man spreading his cheeks.

In Soviet Russia...

[mcgrew]

"Burning Man strives to celebrate our individuality, creativity and free spirit" - Corynne McSherry.
"Communism strives to celebrate our individuality, creativity and free spirit" - Joe Stalin
"Facism strives to celebrate our individuality, creativity and free spirit" - Benito Mussolini

Unsurprised

[argStyopa]

Color me unsurprised.

How many times has it happened now that yesterday's idealist liberals grow up to be conservative fascists themselves? And the more liberal/hippy, the worse they are later.

Is this the negative side to the old aphorism (attributed to Churchill) "if you're not a liberal when you're young, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative when you're older you have no brain"?

Re:Unsurprised

[Hasai]

Someone once noted to me that "the definition of a Conservative is a Liberal who's been mugged."

];)