|
|
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
|
12:06p
This is simply disgusting.
Greed is a very ugly thing.
current mood:  discontent (comment on this)
|
4:22p - Additional thoughts.
I've been thinking about my previous post, and I've got a more detailed opinion that needs exposure.
The idea that property owners have such total control over their property as to allow them to restrict photography of their property is incredibly absurd to me for a number of reasons.
Obviously, if I have a top-secret widget that I don't want anyone to see or know about, I would behave as most governments do, and squirrel it away somewhere where only I had access.
However, things like the Eiffel Tower aren't exactly made to be hidden. They're placed in the public space by design. Their constructors and original owners were contributing to the public space and, in effect, placed the image of their construction into the public domain.
I liken this to the same concept as the uproar over photography of people in public spaces. The simple fact is, a public space is open to the actions of all people occupying the public space. There's no getting around that without completely destroying the idea of a public space.
Additionally, if you don't like the idea of someone else profiting from pictures of your stuff, you can erect suitably high walls that prevent all but the most tenacious photographers from getting a decent composition. Or, you can accept that our society is one of a relatively free market, and you can choose to enter the same market with your own compositions.
However, if you're the owner of such a property, you would do well to learn the lesson of the RIAA, and reconsider crapping all over the families that simply want photos of their kids to commemorate their presence in your building. Once word gets out about how big an asshole you are, you'll be depriving yourself of their tourist dollars, which will amount to significantly more than the mere pennies that most photographers will see from their photos of your stuff.
In the end, it seems to amount to the same lesson that greedy business-types haven't yet learned no matter how often they make the same stupid mistakes: Don't be a dick to your customers.
current mood:  thoughtful
current music: Until You Break - Matthew Sweet (4 comments |comment on this)
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
wakko's journal