New York Becomes First State to Rollout Bill Gates’ Digital ID System
New York has become the first U.S. state to rollout Bill Gates’ digital ID system, as the slow march towards a Chinese-style social credit score system looks set to become reality for New Yorkers. Gov. […]
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Yuan Has Replaced Dollar As Russia’s Main Foreign Currency
The Bank of Russia has announced that yhe yuan/ruble exchange rate will now set the trajectory for other currency pairs on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX), including for the euro and dollar. Their statement comes as […]
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UK Gov’t to Mandate Bill Gates’ Digital ID for Citizens Who Wish To Participate in Society
The British government has announced plans to require all residents in the UK to enroll in Bill Gates’ digital ID system if they wish to continue participating in society. The Gates Foundation welcomed the news […]
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New Study Reveals mRNA Jabs Cause Irreversible Tinnitus
A new study has revealed that mRNA injections cause severe and irreversible tinnitus in recipients. The study authors from the U.S. analyzed results from a survey involving 398 cases of tinnitus related to the Covid […]
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New Polish Surveillance Bill will Give Tusk Government Incredible Access to Citizens’ Private Data
The Polish parliament is in the process of debating a government telecommunications bill, which, according to the Confederation party, will endanger people’s right to privacy. The party has been warning since April that the proposed legislation is a reworking of a bill that the former Law and Justice (PiS) government proposed but recoiled from introducing.
Confederation MP Roman Fritz said that the proposed legislation is ”introducing surveillance through the backdoor,” as it forces providers of services to maintain the capacity to store data to which 10 different state intelligence and law enforcement services have direct access.
The state services that would have such access include the police, border guards, the prison service, the Internal Security Agency (ABW), counterintelligence, the military police, and the Anti-Corruption Agency (CBA).
“Thousands of officials will have the ability to conduct extensive surveillance of Poles and this is to be funded by telecoms service providers, which will mean a rise in the price of these services for the public,” said Fritz.
Michał Urbaniak, another Confederation MP, pointed to the provision in the legislation, which would force the service providers to block people’s access to their email and social media messaging accounts and would oblige service providers to keep billing and geolocation data. This, argued the MP, would mean “blanket surveillance.”
Confederation has consistently argued for limiting powers of surveillance and data protection for private individuals. The party has submitted its legislative proposals, which only give state services access to personal data after obtaining a court order.
Court Rules ‘Success Kid’ Meme Use in Political Ad Does Not Qualify as Fair Use
When the Obama White House in 2013 used the “Success Kid” meme to promote, in posts on social media, the adoption of the Immigration Reform Bill – nobody clenched a fist, much less batted an eyelash to brand this PR strategy as a copyright violation.
However, the same can’t be said for the case of former Republican Congressman Steve King’s use of the meme (variations of which have been all over the internet for the past 15 or so years). But, when it made its way to one of King’s Facebook posts in 2020, the family of the child whose picture is used as a template sued on copyright grounds.
And now a court has once again sided with their arguments. The “new rule” is that the image turned into a meme, when used in a political ad, does not fall under the fair use copyright exemption.
The mother of the child, Laney Griner, has no problem with the picture being used in other types of ads – the United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ruling notes that she took the photo in 2007, and after “Success Kid” became extremely popular, copyrighted it in 2012 to then license it to the likes of Virgin Mobile, Vitamin Water, Microsoft, and Coca-Cola, who used it in ads.
The original 2022 verdict in the case brought by Griner against King was that unlicensed use took place and that his campaign, but not the congressman himself, was guilty, and ordered them to pay $750.
In appealing the ruling, the campaign argued copyright law’s fair use rule to defend the inclusion of the meme in a fundraising effort. Another argument was implied license.
Now the court of appeals has found that the latter claim was abandoned during the original trial and, as for fair use – this was rejected based on the criteria the judges set for themselves to consider: whether the use was commercial, and “how much of the photo” was used.
Regarding other political campaigns (notably, the Obama administration pushing the immigration legislation), this latest decision saw the circuit judge agree with the trail judge that the evidence about the meme’s association with political ideas should not be considered.
We obtained a copy of the ruling for you here.