#Meta cracks down on Facebook users who steal and repost others’ photos: https://zorz.it/pWcGO

#PesalaBandara #Facebook #StolenPhotos #technology #FacebookAccounts #ContentProducers #news

Snoop Dogg: Photographers Shouldn’t Own Their Photos of Celebrities

#culture #news #copyright #copyrightinfringement #legal #nas #paparazzo #pop #popsinger #rapper #rappers #snoopdogg #socialmedia #stolenphotos

Google’s Pixel Mail-In Repair Results in Leaked Photos, Hacked Account

A new report alleges Google's mail-in repair service for Pixel phones resulted in stolen photos and a hacked device for one woman. Google says it is investigating.

As detailed by The Verge, game designer and author Jane McGonigal sent her Pixel 5a phone to a Google repair center in Texas in October, but was told by the company that it did not receive the phone and she was charged for a replacement device. But McGonigal says FedEx tracking information shows it arrived at the facility, and recently finally got Google to refund her the value of the replacement device. However, she found that someone used the phone to clear two-factor authentication and log into several of her accounts including Dropbox, Gmail, and Google Drive.

"The photos they opened were of me in bathing suits, sports bras, form-fitting dresses, and of stitches after surgery," McGonigal writes on Twitter. "They deleted Google security notifications in my backup email accounts."

She says that this occurred even though she tried to erase the phone and lock it from Google's "find my phone" service. The malicious activity triggered multiple security email alerts to her backup account, but McGonigal believes whoever had the phone used it to access her backup email and marked those alerts as spam.

Yeah, don't send your Google phone in for warranty repair/replacement. As has happened with others, last night someone used it to log into my gmail, Drive, photos backup email account, dropbox, and I can see from activity logs they opened a bunch of selfies hoping to find nudes

-- Jane McGonigal (@avantgame) December 4, 2021

"The hacker changed my Gmail settings to mark all security messages from Google as spam, so when I checked my spam folder that's where all the security alerts went while they were hacking me," she says.

A Google spokesperson told The Verge that it was investigating the claim, and it's not clear if the phone was intercepted upon arrival or before delivery at the repair facility, or if someone at the facility took the phone and claimed it had not been delivered.

Google recommends backing up and then erasing a device before sending it in, but McGonigal notes this isn't something that always can be done.

"A consumer can't factory reset a phone that won't turn on," she notes. "I took every other recommended step to secure it including Lock my Phone and Erase my Phone via Google's FindMyPhone service. It did not work."

The Verge says this is one of two cases it has been alerted to of such a situation taking place, and also notes that it's not the only time this has happened, as Apple paid millions to a woman in June after repair technicians posted her nude photos to Facebook. At least in this case, McGonigal's experience has resulted in some positive change.

"Pixel Support and Google Security have been extremely helpful today I am happy to report," she says. "The best thing to come out of this is there will be added security instructions for people who cannot factory reset their phones due to phone damage. This is good and should help a lot."

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.

#mobile #news #accounts #google #googlepixel #hacked #repair #smartphone #stolen #stolenphotos

Actress Says Paparazzi ‘Weaponize’ Copyright, Refuses to Pay for Photos

Actress Lisa Rinna has found herself in legal trouble after posting paparazzi images of herself on her Instagram account without compensating the photographer. The representing agency has now filed a lawsuit but the star is not willing to pay up.

"Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star and television personality Rinna told The Los Angeles Times that she has always seen the relationship between celebrities and paparazzi as "very symbiotic." She claims that she understood getting photographed is "part of the game" and never fought with or ran from paparazzi before.

However, it appears that this relationship has been tainted after Rinna posted a series of images on her personal Instagram page, featuring her and her two daughters. The images were owned by paparazzi photographers, represented by photo agency Backgrid, but she hadn't paid for the use of images before sharing them.

Backgrid first launched a legal campaign with a letter claiming $1.2 million in damages. After Rinna refused to pay, the agency filed a lawsuit in federal court in June for an alleged copyright infringement.

An agency that represents paparazzi asserts that Lisa Rinna infringed its copyrights by posting photos of herself and her two daughters on her Instagram page.

But Rinna is fighting back. Columnist @hiltzikm explains: https://t.co/GCloQxcmTg

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) October 5, 2021

Jo Ardalan, a partner at One LLP -- the intellectual property law firm that has represented Backgrid in several copyright cases, including the lawsuit against Rinna -- explains that "once a photograph is posted, People magazine or Us Weekly will be less likely to buy it because all their fans will have already seen it."

However, Rinna is not prepared to pay and is fighting back. She argues that had the fee been more reasonable, she wouldn't be so disinclined to acquiesce. However, the huge amount that the agency is seeking has led her to ask the judge to reject the filed claim on the grounds that Backgrid has "effectively 'weaponized' the Copyright Act" to make up for lost revenue during the pandemic when most celebrities stayed locked down or weren't as recognizable under masks.

Lisa Rinna Speaks Out About Lawsuit Over Posting Paparazzi Photos of Herself: 'That's Not Right' pic.twitter.com/uFMJEN5eYz

— People (@people) October 6, 2021

Rinna is not the first nor the last celebrity to misuse intellectual property. Earlier this year Lebron James reached a settlement with a photographer after a lawsuit alleging he misappropriated an image for his social media feed without paying the photographer, TikTok star Charli D’Amelio was called out for using a photographer's images in her book without permission, and Dua Lipa received a similar lawsuit to Rinna's.

At a quick glance, it could be mistakenly assumed that paparazzi photographers' work doesn't -- or shouldn't -- come under the same copyright and ownership image rules as any other image creators'. But, whether an image was captured by paparazzi, press, or portrait photographer, it cannot be used for commercial gain without obtaining the correct licensing or permission first.

Because of negative connotations that still pervade paparazzi photographers, the public reaction to the lawsuit has been mixed:

There should be laws against photographing people without their permission, especially with the intent to profit from the photos.

— LazyCat // #NeverAgain (@LazyCatHappyCat) October 5, 2021

This law is clear. You don't own the IP just because you're the subject of the artwork. If an author writes a biography about you you don't get to snatch as many copies as you want. Take your own family photos to promote your social acct. Or pay the photog who took this one.

— Lex Jurgen (@Lex_Jurgen) October 5, 2021

I mean she did steal them! If a photographer takes a professional photo of you and you post it on your page without paying the photographer, that’s theft.

— Kat⁷ 🪐 (@royaltymyg) October 5, 2021

However, copyrights and licensing of intellectual property is a crucial aspect of any working photographer. Without the image use protections in place -- same as those that protect singers, songwriters, designers, and other creators -- the work could be misused in any which way leading to loss of profit and potentially damaged reputation.

Image credits: Featured image licensed via Depositphotos.

#industry #law #news #copyright #copyrightinfringement #legal #lisarinna #paparazzi #paparazziphotography #paparazzo #pop #popsinger #socialmedia #stolenphotos