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Swedish Police Shoe Database May Tread On Copyright

Posted by timothy on from the heel-to-toe-heel-to-toe dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Swedish police, who have been instrumental in various raids against file-sharing sites, may have a bit of a piracy problem on their own hands. It seems they wanted to put together a database of shoe print information for matching crime scene shoe prints to particular shoe types. To do so, they used images found online, and some Swedish copyright experts have noted that this appears to violate Swedish copyright law. The police claim there's an exception for police investigations, but people (and some shoe companies) are pointing out that creating a database isn't about an investigation."

9 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Sure it is! by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

    The investigations are just hypothetical and in the future!

    Also, the NSA needs to spy on my phone conversations in case I ever become a terrorist. Which, I have to admit, is pretty good foresight on their part.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
    1. Re:Sure it is! by internettoughguy · · Score: 2, Funny

      I can't see why they don't just build a Visual Basic GUI that downloads the images as they are needed.

    2. Re:Sure it is! by retchdog · · Score: 2, Funny

      Jurisprudence does ... in general ... recognize a future hypothetical case ... as ... lawsuits against ... copyright violators ... [A]n unholy cross between corruption, politics, and insanity ... permit... police to use ... powers for any ... purpose.

      The correct answer is ... just ... a ... person ... armed... can solve the problem.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  2. Coming up next on... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Unshod Mysteries.

  3. Witty title by chemicaldave · · Score: 3, Funny

    kudos to you

    1. Re:Witty title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you enjoyed Swedish Police Shoe Database May Tread on Copyright you may also enjoy:

      Swedish Police Shoe Database Steps Over the Line
      Cops Heels, Won't Toe the Line
      Swedish Police Trample Copyright Law
      Police Shoe Database Doesn't Foot With Swedish Copyright Law
      Cops Caught, Read Footed

  4. Re:Slender, not broad by treeves · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, it's gotta be a pretty small data set. I mean, how many different kinds of Swedish Police shoes can there be?

    --
    ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
  5. Glad to know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Glad to know that the the US isn't the only country throwing money away on invasive, quasi-legal and ridiculously redundant databases in the name of SOLVING CRIME.

  6. Cousin to the Swedish Chef by zooblethorpe · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hur, de hur de hur, dee dee boom -- Tort! Tort! Tort!

    If only.

    Cheers,

    --
    "What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
    "A four-foot prune."