I just got today an email from a Yael E. Holtkamp working for a Lavely & Singer, Professional Corporation. Interesting that nowhere in the email does it say this person is an attorney or that she is working on behalf of attorneys.
The email seems to be a hodge podege of human unreadable legalese with a custom paragraph relating to the photos tacked on at the beginning:
Dear Sir/Madam:
Recently, a digital memory card containing a number of personal copyright protected photographs of our clients was stolen. The police are currently investigating this matter. The photos depict, among other things, private moments and images of our clients and/or their minor children, taken in Namibia, including images from a private baby shower (the “Stolen Photosâ€). It is obvious to anyone viewing the Stolen Photos that they were taken in private, on private property and that they could only have been taken by our clients and/or a family member, who own all right title and interest thereto.
We understand that the person who stole the Stolen Photos, or an accomplice, has been offering them for sale to the various media outlets and celebrity content websites, and may have offered the Stolen Photos to you.
I hate it when lawyers try to put words in my mouth.
Honestly, it was not obvious to me that the photos were taken in the privacy of their Namibian home. On the contrary, both on the post related to this incident, not only did I think I was a hoax, but I watermarked the image with a plea, asking people for information on where I had seen that photo before [1].
By the way, the original photo was scrubbed from the server and now substituted with the sign we have above this post.
This is an instance when I really had to contend hard with the "should I or shouldn't I". I felt that if it was a hoax, then I would have loved to punk the seller. But if the photos were indeed stolen, then I honestly wanted whomever was behind this to be taken to task.
The problem with blogging is that, as an outsider, I have no idea who to turn to in cases like this one. Seriously, who do I call? How do I get in contact with the stars reps?
Indeed, eventhough culturekitchen may seem like an operation, it is not. We are just people with access to the technology used by the big publishing companies. Maybe it's time for these representatives to start amicably reaching to people like me, not through illegible pseudo-legal emails.
But let me take this one step further. As someone who cherishes privacy, I would never, ever publish knowingly anything on this site that would breach anybody's right to privacy; especially celebrities. I have a huge issue with the fact that many people believe that celebrities or anybody famous have relinquished their right to privacy just because they are famous.
In this day and age, when anybody can indeed have more than their 15 minutes of fame through self-published digital media (for exmaple, blogs), "paparazzi attacks" can and will be used for their chilling effect [2]. Breaches of people's privacy will be used to silence them and neutralize the power of their dissent, creativity or uniqueness. No wonder so many people blog anonymously.
So, just so we are clear, attacks against 'fair use' by major corporations is one thing [3]. Invasion of privacy? That's a whole other ball game and one I am not willing to play.
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To read more about our
Brangelina saga, check
out our Brangelina archives [3].
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