

NSA Prism logo is a copyright infringment - RobAley
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/12/nsa_logo_scandal/

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patrickg
"Dear Mr. XXX, this is the NSA. We'd like to use the image we've found on your
homepage as the logo for a secret massive surveillance and spying program
called 'prism'. Could you please sign the attached 20 page license and send it
back to us: NSA, Maryland. Thanks in advance, Mr Smith, Chief Officer for
Domestic Affairs."

~~~
hawleyal
Strawman

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pyrhho
Actually, though... If they've been monitoring everyone's internet traffic,
it's feasible they have unwittingly downloaded illegal copies of media.
Meaning they've committed copyright infringement on a massive scale?

~~~
DanBC
NSA probably has specific exceptions written into law.

In the UK GCHQ has exemptions to cover things like anti-circumvention of
copyright law; images of child sexual abuse; copyrights; etc etc.

~~~
leoc
It's good to be king.

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chaz
Office worker uses Google Images to find photos for a Powerpoint. News at 11.

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joeblau
It says "Free to download and use" So how is that copyright infringement?

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Samuel_Michon
Right after that it says ‘© Author’, which links to a Terms page, which states
“If you make money from using our stuff, share it with us!” and “You
acknowledge the author, including in derivative works, if possible with a
caption” and “You make an effort to contribute similar material of your own
creation to the Web under similar terms, if and when you can.”

[http://gallery.hd.org/terms.html](http://gallery.hd.org/terms.html)

~~~
biot
The license has enough holes to drive a tank through. They're clearly not
using the image to make money. Acknowledgement is done "if possible".
Contributing is done "if and when you can".

The "if possible" line is left up to the interpretation of the licensee (in
this case, the NSA) and they can simply argue that it wasn't possible because
the program was classified and including the name of a civilian who has no
clearance might have impacted the classification status. Regarding
contribution, that too is left to the discretion of the licensee... "Sorry, we
couldn't".

As much as one might like to find fault with their use of the logo, I fail to
see how this is infringement.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
I agree, it’s all very wishy-washy and full of contradictory statements. My
point was simply that there was more text than “Free to download and use”.

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Spooky23
The Federal government is has sovereign immunity, so you can only file claims
against them to the extent that they allow them to.

You can sue the feds for copyright infringement, but only for reasonable
compensaton -- you cannot recover the costs of litigation.

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mikemurko
Terms of photo use: "Don't use our stuff to deceive or mislead others."
[http://gallery.hd.org/terms.html](http://gallery.hd.org/terms.html)

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goatforce5
The photographer, Adam Hart-Davis is great. He does history/sciencey shows on
the BBC.

Local Heroes was great, but seems to have avoided being uploaded to YouTube.

Here's an episode of What the Romans Did for Us:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDU5zBYQprc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDU5zBYQprc)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Hart-
Davis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Hart-Davis)

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gridmaths
I guess this means the original photographer is guilty of leaking a secret
document to the enemy. Because the secret FISA order classifying this NSA
content, by extension classifies the original work, and all documents that
include it.

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mixedbit
Can't believe they would do something like this, maybe the author is credited
on the final slide of the presentation?

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Fuxy
NSA doesn't follow the law shocked? :))

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leeoniya
that just looks like the hosting company's business records to me

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youngerdryas
Jumping the shark!

~~~
gtCameron
The NSA or Hacker News?

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eranation
Reminds me of this great video:
[https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat](https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat)

~~~
eranation
Major oops, actually somehow I commented on the wrong thread! (hope I'm not
the first in HN history to do that), how utterly bad it may look, too many HN
tabs open I guess.

As stupid as it may sound, it was intended for this thread:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5866837](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5866837)
anyone with mod permissions, please delete the my parent comment (and this one
as well) oh, the shame :0

