this fling.com business is getting out of hand

[beastieangel01]

at first a few random net people said "Hey, they are using your image on this website and their ads" and I was like eh whatever it's some little website I don't care.

Now I actually have people I am friends with and a few people I used to work with, seeing the ads on myspace. Myspace means massive traffic. And they never contacted me for use of the images.

I DEMAND REMOVAL OR MONIES.

[Bob]

that must be illegal in some way

[beastieangel01]

I wrote them an email and this is the response I've gotten so far:

Dear Customer,

We apologize for the inconvenience.

We were unable to locate your account with the information you provided. Please provide your username or email used to sign up to fling.com, so we may further investigate your request.


I AM NOT SIGNED UP AHOLES. Your ads just say I am. And neither are me anyways.

And yeah I agree, it must be illegal. BOB! I need your expertise!

[TurdBerglar]

show the advert

[beastieangel01]

on their actual site I'm in the flash ad on the left. Then I appear on the right eventually if you keep refreshing.

Then my friend sent me this screen shot:
here (http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5673/flingow5.jpg)

I actually wouldn't care all that much but... 1. I didn't authorize them to use the images and 2. If they are going to use it and make money off people, um. Hi I'm a college student working full time too. At least pay me SOMETHING for the images damn it haha.

[Bob]

i KNEW those were fake!

i wonder if you could sue them for false advertising, too? unless you actually are "spicyfl" from benicia?

i took an intellectual property class, there could be a copyright thing

probably some kind of tort or something too. are you humiliated? you're humiliated, aren't you. and publicly!

[Bob]

i just looked at my intellectual property outline from last year and my official legal conclusion is that there may or may not be copyright issues

it took me about 10 minutes, i'm gonna round that up to an hour, i'll send you a bill

[beastieangel01]

i just looked at my intellectual property outline from last year and my official legal conclusion is that there may or may not be copyright issues

it took me about 10 minutes, i'm gonna round that up to an hour, i'll send you a bill

damn you *shakes fist*

[beastieangel01]

it was on my myspace at one point, and flickr.

and flickr merged with yahoo not all that long ago.

and I think someone said something about because of that flickr changed it's terms of service and can use your images? but I wonder if they can use them to SELL them? maybe?

So it's either that, or they just swiped it without permission from either one of those sites.

[beastieangel01]

at least three people I know IRL have seen it within the past 4 hours. And a co-worker just did a few minutes ago and laughed when he realized it's an adult personals site.

haha :(

[Bob]

this is sort of the internet equivalent of writing "for a good time call crystal" on the bathroom wall

[SOP]

This situation is so fucked.

Good luck, Cristal.

[Drederick Tatum]

hai crist@l omg u r hot! bbq?! asl?

[Jitters]

That's messed up...

How long has your picture been used in the ads?

[beastieangel01]

at least a few months if not more. I guess the massive ad campaign didn't start till this week, though.

ahhh, the internets.

[Bob]

actually now that i'm thinking about it there probably is no copyright issue (not that anyone besides me ever mentioned the word "copyright" in this thread but i can't stop thinking about it) because you put your picture on the internet for everyone and anyone to see, that probably makes it public domain or something.

still though, this feels like it ought to be illegal somehow. they're using it for advertising purposes, and they're implying "meet THIS GIRL, THIS GIRL, YES YOU CRYSTAL YOU SLUT", i dunno, that must be some kind of malfeasance

[beastieangel01]

yeah it still seems like making money off someones likeness without authorization is illegal. People usually have to pay for stock photos in ads so...?

[Bob]

do you know for sure that they're actually making money off it? i don't even know if that's relevant but if it is, then it'd help to know for sure that they're making money off of it (i'd check the site myself but as a lawyer i'm too busy to do these things and my research assistants have all gone home for the day)

[cookiepuss]

the picture was posted on Myspace and Myspace is owned by Rupert Murdock who is growing a nice little monopoly of media outlets these days. I may be wrong, but I beleive that it says somewhere in the fine print of myspace's terms of use that any images posted on myspace become the property(or relenquishes rights to) of Mr. Murdock and his conglomerates. what do you want to bet that Murdock owns fling.com as well???


if you had watermarked or copywrited the photo and then put it on myspace then I beleive it's protected and you could take action against someone using it in ads.

[beastieangel01]

"Yes, it is FREE to register. To get the full benefits of Fling we offer an introductory trial offer."

so yeah they do make money off the site.

And if it's true that they can use my image due to me sharing it on myspace at one point, or flickr, well, that sucks.

But hey lesson learned and others beware. Though I'm not sure that's the case quite yet. Time to do some digging.

[Bob]

if you had watermarked or copywrited the photo and then put it on myspace then I beleive it's protected and you could take action against someone using it in ads.

i don't think you could even do that though. i'm pretty sure that once you put something in the public domain (and i'm guessing myspace counts), you lose any protection over it.

the screenname in the ad isn't actually yours or anything, is it? if people start harassing you because of it, maybe there'd be something.

[The Notorious LOL]

wow. If you google "fling.com" you get this description:

Meet adult members looking for sex

Meet singles & swingers, explore erotic fantasies, have a fling now using our award winning real-time video chat rooms. Fling makes it safe and secure before meeting. So get on and indulge your impulses on Fling.com today.


so yeah, I would be pissed. match.com or something like that ehh maybe not so much but this is basically a sex only website.

Im too lazy to look into it but isnt who has a domain registered public information? whois.com or some shit...they might have contact info.

[Bob]

And if it's true that they can use my image due to me sharing it on myspace at one point, or flickr, well, that sucks.


well i mean, i'm sure it's not a free license to do WHATEVER they want with the picture, you just can't sue them for copyright infringement. they could still be liable for other things. like if they took your picture off myspace and said "THIS HORNY SLUT LIVES AT 555 SKANKVILLE ROAD (and that happened to be your real address) GO VISIT HER AND SAY THE SECRET PHRASE 'I HAVE A HUGE COCK!' FOR FREE SEX", that would surely be illegal

i'm just wondering if there's some other illegal thing here

[DIGI]

Like NLOL didn't know what it was.:rolleyes:

[cookiepuss]

i don't think you could even do that though. i'm pretty sure that once you put something in the public domain (and i'm guessing myspace counts), you lose any protection over it.




yeah I'm not sure either, but I thought that was the point in copywriting things though. So that others need permission to use it. but it gets confusing with the public domain thing.

[jabumbo]

this is sort of the internet equivalent of writing "for a good time call crystal" on the bathroom wall


whats the number?

[The Notorious LOL]

Like NLOL didn't know what it was.:rolleyes:


well I knew it was a personals site, just not the nature. Even that though, it seems sort of tasteless that if myspace allows people under 18 to register, they would advertise a service such as that. Not that myspace is really defines morality in any sense :rolleyes:

[Bob]

yeah I'm not sure either, but I thought that was the point in copywriting things though. So that others need permission to use it. but it gets confusing with the public domain thing.

my only copyright knowledge comes from a brief survey class in intellectual property, where copyright was one of four subjects covered, so i could be way off on a lot of this, but copyright protection isn't just a matter of formally registering and copyrighting things. anything sufficiently original that you create and control the distribution of is subject to protection. but once you just expose it to the public and put it up for grabs (like voluntarily hosting it on the internet) you've stopped protecting it, so you can't turn around and say that your protection's been violated once someone goes onto the internet and downloads it

or something like that, that class was like 3 months ago

[Bob]

i dunno, maybe defamation of character or something? now anyone who knows you might see it and "reasonably" think "oh man, crystal's sunk really low, she's advertising herself on a sex website now?"

i suppose you'd actually have to prove that you've actually been defamed, though, and all your friends just seem to think it's funny

[Bob]

i feel like a nerd for doing this, but i actually researched this defamation of character thing a little. according to the california practice guide (a helpful volume of books that tells california lawyers how to sue people): In an action for libel, the statement is defamatory if it exposes a person to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy; causes the person to be shunned or avoided; or has a tendency to injure the person in his or her occupation. [Civ. Code § 45]

i dunno what an obloquy is, but i suppose you could argue that this EXPOSES you to ridicule, even if nobody has yet (i'm not about to research case law to determine whether or not you have to actually be ridiculed, go see a real lawyer if you're interested in that)

there are other elements too, i really don't feel like researching them, i was only curious about the harm requirement. also since i'm not even A lawyer, much less YOUR lawyer, i'm not allowed to give you legal advice, so don't think that that's what i'm doing. alls i'm saying is, if you're really interested in doing something about this, i dunno, see if you can get a free consultation with a lawyer or something, there may be something here

[beastieangel01]

and all your friends just seem to think it's funny

haha. yeah pretty much. So far anyways. That's why I don't care as much at the moment but let's say in the future because of this particular website using my image without permission it causes ramifications. *shrug*

[cosmo105]

i remember once a couple of years ago i saw crystal's pic on not one but two completely different sites within a couple of hours of each other, and neither of them were actually her.

[Bob]

i remember once a couple of years ago i saw crystal's pic on not one but two completely different sites within a couple of hours of each other, and neither of them were actually her.

one time i was googling "mike d beastie boys" (back when i still posted on beastie general) and i found a picture of her holding a mike d action figure

[russhie]

Yeah, pretty much once you put a picture up on the internet it's in the public domain and you lose the right to control who/what uses it.

[faz]

As far as I know putting a picture online doesn't lose you the copyright to it. However myspace has some shady rules about things you upload, so I wouldn't be surprised if your technically giving them the rights to use it anyway they see fit, and selling it to fling.com.

It really is fucked up though, I'm sure you don't care enough to get a lawyer involved, but you probably could.

You should submit this to digg.com, you'd get crazy attention. Just like when cosmo told that guy some tshirt artist was copying his work. Shit hit digg and blew up. I actually, somehow, managed to stumble onto the wikipedia page about him the other day.

[Bob]

this is going to sound even nerdier than the last few posts i made, but i asked around on the internet legal community (there is one, i swear), and here's what i turned up (i didn't mention anything about you or fling.com and i didn't post the pictures)

like faz said, i was wrong when i said that the fact that you put your picture out on the internet made you lose all protection over it

this isn't binding case law, but here's (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0731071lara1.html) a case where a porno distributor found a girl's picture on her publicly available website (this is all work safe by the way, the picture isn't even remotely revealing, which makes me wonder why they even used it), and put it on the cover of their DVD. she asked them to cut it out and they said "Nice try toots. We are still going to remove you from the art, not because of your claim but let's face it your picture means very little to the film." read the link for the full story, but the point is, the fact that she put her picture up on the internet for everyone to see didn't kill her cause of action.

if that doesn't work, there's another avenue. again, this link is hardly binding law, but it's something to talk about if you decide to see a lawyer (which, if you're even considering ever doing it, i advise you do sooner rather than later for reasons which will be described at the end of this post). anyway it's a claim of false light (http://www.rcfp.org/handbook/c02p04.html). click the link for the fullish story but the gist of it is that you could argue that showing your photo and implying that you meet random internet men for sex is highly offensive to a reasonable person, and is published with knowledge or in reckless disregard of whether the information was false or would place you in a false light.

again, i'm not a lawyer, i'm not your lawyer, but if you really do want to put a legal end to this, you might want to ask a real lawyer about these things. copyright, defamation, false light, just remember those words.

also, you said that this has probably been going on for a few months, so if you are considering legal action, do it sooner rather than later, otherwise the statute of limitations (in other words, the time limit) might run. i don't know when it starts running, and i don't know how long it is, but if you wait too long, you may lose the right to sue.

[faz]

like faz said, i was wrong when i said that the fact that you put your picture out on the internet made you lose all protection over it

I paid attention during my intellectual property classes :p Mine where part of a multimedia course though, so we covered this sort of thing more than you would. I presume.

[russhie]

I don't know if it's relevant, but I recently sought advice from a university lecturer about using video clips posted on Youtube in a media assignment. He was also my media law teacher last semester, and his response to my question as to wether or not I'd need to seek permissions to use the material from Youtube was that as it had been placed in the public domain it was technically ok to use it without asking permissions. As this assignment is meant to be broadcast ready, I assume the advice he's giving me would cover me from any legal troubles which might arise from me showing the clips to an audience as part of my assignment.

Defamation is a tricky defense, because you have to argue/prove how this thing has visibly affected your normal life. There are alot of ways to get around it as a defense, I wish I had my media law books here, there are alot of factors involved.

Again, I don't know how relevant this is, but a couple of years ago an Australian clothing designer who had placed pictures of their garments on their online store were forced to remove the pictures because people had used them to create knock-offs. They decided to pursue legal action, but last I heard they weren't doing so good because they had placed the pictures voluntarily on the website, which was in the public domain, and therefore open to be viewed and used by whoever came across them.

At the moment I'm also studying a bit of business law and as far as I understand (haven't been doing it for long) you can protect intellectual property with a copyright or whatever...but the process is lengthy and can be quite expensive. Apparently that little "TM" symbol is useless as well...property covered with a trademark has to be deemed a registered trademark (R) before it is protected from being copied/used by others. TM simply means the papers have been filed and the trademark is pending...it's just a more cost/time effective way of scaring people off from using your property than going through the entire process of registering fully.

Though I could be wrong about all this. I just thought that people understood that once they put stuff on the internet, you can't control what other people do with it, and you don't have much recourse if something like this does happen. Common sense maybe?

[Jitters]

If they did happen to get it off myspace that would be too weird. How can they have the right to take your picture and just use it willy-nilly.

[adam_f]

Wouldn't Beth know better than anybody else, anyway?

[Yetra Flam]

That's what you get for being hot.

[beastieangel01]

I did contact a lawyer because fling.com is ignoring me. So we'll see how it goes I guess.

[SOP]

To hell with that site. Shut 'em down.

[skra75]

You'll be a myspaceadgirl before you know it! :cool:

[beastieangel01]

I guess technically I already am? :confused:

It's becoming embarrassing. A lot of extended family use myspace and all my male cousins are seeing the ads. LOVELY.

[skra75]

on their actual site I'm in the flash ad on the left. Then I appear on the right eventually if you keep refreshing.

Then my friend sent me this screen shot:
here (http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5673/flingow5.jpg)



HAHA! They used your joke name spicy_flavor!
I didn't see this earlier when I posted :o , I HAVE A SHORT ATTENSHEN SPAN

[cookiepuss]

If they did happen to get it off myspace that would be too weird. How can they have the right to take your picture and just use it willy-nilly.

umm...it not weird...go read thier terms of use...I actually did go check it out after i mentioned what I thought it said and found I was a little off but basically...they can use your image within the realm of myspace. seeeee:
By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content on or through the MySpace Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com a limited license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Content solely on and through the MySpace Services.

so the question would be if Fling.com is a direct service of myspace

[mikizee]

sue the cunts.

[Bob]

I did contact a lawyer because fling.com is ignoring me. So we'll see how it goes I guess.

just remember "false light"

i dunno what that means fully but maybe the lawyer does

[hpdrifter]

Also, "limited license"

[M.C. Guevera]

I KNEW that picture looked familar! I saw that ad when I logged into MySpace, except my ad said "Meet These Hot Miami Singles!" But then I saw your picture and I was like, "Hey! Wait a minute! I know that girl! Those profiles are bogus!"

[hitmonlee]

thought this may be relevant

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22456861-662,00.html

VIRGIN Mobile Australia has been slapped with a lawsuit after it ran an ad featuring a picture of a US teenager with the slogan "Free virgin to virgin".
American teenager Alison Chang, and her church-going family, had suffered “grief and humiliation” from the advertisements, according to the lawsuit filed yesterday in a Dallas court.

Virgin Mobile also printed one of its campaign slogans, "Dump your pen friend,'' over the girl's picture.

The family said in the lawsuit the company had invaded the girl's privacy by using the picture, which they claim was taken from the Yahoo-owned photo-sharing website Flickr.

The Australian advertisements, part of a Virgin Mobile campaign called “Are You With Us Or What?,” were featured online and on billboards around the country.

According to the lawsuit, the picture, taken by the girl's youth counsellor, was pinched from the photographer's Flickr page without permission.

Flickr guidelines stipulate photos taken from users' pages must be credited to the photographer.

Virgin Mobile Australia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

[befsquire]

Wouldn't Beth know better than anybody else, anyway?
i would only know how to advise crystal if she were charged with a crime.

and then i'd sell her mugshot to myspace. :)

[b i o n i c]

i read this today and thought this is also kind of relevant

ads illegal - new york times (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/are-facebooks-social-ads-illegal/)