Alaska Officials Using Copyright To Try To Stifle Images Of Killed Wolves
from the free-speech? dept
So, we just had the story of police in the UK trying to abuse copyright to prevent the showing of speed camera photos. Now we've got a somewhat similar story in the US, pointed to us by Michael Scott, involving officials in Alaska using copyright to try to force offline photos of "aerial wolf kills." Apparently, the Alaskan gov't goes around and shoots wolves from helicopters to control the wolf population. Not surprisingly, some find this rather distasteful. One wildlife protection group obtained the government's photos of killed wolves from March of this year using a public records request, and put them online... at which point the gov't claimed that it was a copyright violation.This seems questionable on a variety of fronts. In the US, we tend to have problems with the idea that gov't should copyright things. The federal gov't can't, though state gov'ts often have more leeway and often do claim copyright over documents (though, it can be controversial). More importantly, though, once again, this is clearly not the intention of copyright. It's quite obviously copyright law being used (yet again) to stifle free expression from protesters -- a form of free speech which should trump copyright law absolutely. Of course, in the end, like so many attempts to stifle speech, this is backfiring. The effort to suppress the photos is only serving to draw much more attention to them.
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Filed Under: alaska, copyright, free speech, wolves
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Ummm
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This protest group should definitely have the right to publish the photos, even though their stance is stupid and uneducated. Maybe someone should show them pictures of wolves dying from mange, rabies, etc. That's what happens when the population is not controlled, and it is far more devastating to the wolf population. Sad, but true. Nature's a bitch.
This is not unusual, either. State wildlife/game departments often have to kill mass numbers of deer to control deer populations in the US Midwest. It used to be controlled almost solely through hunting, but fewer people are hunting today, and the populations are getting way out of control.
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No need to get in the triviality of whether or not it is legal to copyright public records it says right on them they are copyright protected! And although the lighting was not under the Fish and Game Depts control they seemed to have posed the corpses which would make it art!!
/sarcasm
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But the original article was written by a mainstream media outlet. How could it not be 100% accurate and fact checked? It's not like it came from a blog or anything!
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At what temperature does blood boil?
"Apparently, the Alaskan gov't goes around and shoots wolves from helicopters to control the wolf population"
What a joke. They aren't trying to control wolf population, they're trying to control livestock/farming/etc. population. Everytime I hear some hunter/govt. official/lobbyist/etc. talk about how deer/wolves/fish/etc.are overpopulated I have two questions:
1. Overpopulated from whose point of view, exactly. Because I'm fairly certain that from most of the natural world's point of view, WE'RE the ones that are overpopulated. So why aren't their bands of wolf banditos, regularly creeping into heavily populated areas, and doing US the favor of euthanizing a significant portion of our population(also known as ripping us to fucking pieces, but euthanize sounds better).
2. What reason do I, as someone who is observant of how we conduct ourselves in the natural world, have to believe that some government official has a plan to "restore balance to nature" by killing off hundreds or thousands of natural predetors. Tell you what, you ignorant fuckheads, leave it to nature. I promise you the natural world will sort this all out. That might, however, mean that your bottom line drops a bit because your Yak/Elk farms lose part of their heard.
"Not surprisingly, some find this rather distasteful. One wildlife protection group obtained the government's photos of killed wolves from March of this year using a public records request."
Ok, first thing's first. I know it's been done to death, but am I the only one that pictured Sarah Palin (wo)manning a chain gun on the side of some Vietnam era Bell helicopter in a full Rambo outfit. Picture her hair blowing in the wind, a smirk on her bispectacled face, as her bossoms rock in a dark camo tank top with the sway of the helicopter and her cutoff shorts glistening with sweat as she unloads round after round into a grey wolf that had the gall to inhabit its natural environment.
The next question I have is why in the world is the government taking and retaining photographs of these dead terrorist wolves? It can't be for any kind of compliance, since they're denying the use of the photographs by watchdog organizations. My suspician is that they're contracting out the duty to wolf-mercenary groups and paying them per kill, which of course is a lovely way to make sure that any intention to benefit the natural world via these means goes right the fuck out the window as these money-starved independent death merchants kill as many animals as possible to make the most money.
God I hate Alaska right now. My Alaskan Husky also would like me to issue fair warning to the Alaskan govt.: she says that if they don't cut it out with the bullshit, she's going to engage in a smear campaign that literally involves smearing dog poop on all govt. employee's houses, like some kind of insane anti-Moses movement. Her words, not mine.
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WOW this is HOT!!!!! where can i get a copy of the video?
"Ok, first thing's first. I know it's been done to death, but am I the only one that pictured Sarah Palin (wo)manning a chain gun on the side of some Vietnam era Bell helicopter in a full Rambo outfit. Picture her hair blowing in the wind, a smirk on her bispectacled face, as her bossoms rock in a dark camo tank top with the sway of the helicopter and her cutoff shorts glistening with sweat as she unloads round after round into a grey wolf that had the gall to inhabit its natural environment.
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It's the same problem in the north east. The deer become over populated, run out of food and go into residential areas. They will dig threw trash, destroy property and can get quite dangerous to pets and children.
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population control
I know around here there are still plenty of hunters, but I also live in the south. I also know that the government sponsors hunts even in wildlife preserve areas to keep populations under control. A few months ago, Ft Campbell even held a deer hunt and let the public come in and go hunting (there were a limited number of slots, of course). Not sure why the army couldn't do it. You would think they would be well equipped and that it would be good practice for the troops but, hey, whatever.
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First of all, that's the most backwards thing I've ever heard. If you are paying the public per kill, you've given them an incentive to overkill. Why would the army, which has had a presence in Alaska for decades, have any reason to overkill these animals? Unless you think that the army is filled with NOTHING but teenage hotheads just itchin' fer a chance ter shoot something cuz they didn't graduate high school. Not saying that's what you're saying, I just don't see any other possibility for your logic.
But more importantly, why does it have to be the Army or the public? Why can't it be, I don't know, state-funded animal control? Maybe use a little of that stimulus money and EMPLOY people to do the job? Or the EPA. or the state's Wildlife Rangers?
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"First of all, that's the most backwards thing I've ever heard. If you are paying the public per kill, you've given them an incentive to overkill."
No one ever said anything about paying the public to kill. I said that the public would use the meat, where the army would throw it away. Don't quite know what your trying to say here, except blindly attacking with ad-hominem hyperbole.
As far as overkill, again, read the post I responded to. The poster specifically stated that this was a regulated event with a limited number of slots. Basically, they ran it the same way any wildlife department runs any other hunting season.
"Why would the army, which has had a presence in Alaska for decades, have any reason to overkill these animals?"
Um, I don't know what the Army presence in Alaska would have to do with a hunt in Fort Campbell, KY.
"Unless you think that the army is filled with NOTHING but teenage hotheads just itchin' fer a chance ter shoot something cuz they didn't graduate high school."
Again, complete nonsense that has nothing to do with my post. I simply said that, if the army handled it, they would have to dispose of the carcasses, and the meat would go to waste. If they allow the public to take part in the hunt (like any hunting season), the meat gets used and the Army doesn't have to figure out what to do with the carcasses.
"But more importantly, why does it have to be the Army or the public? Why can't it be, I don't know, state-funded animal control? Maybe use a little of that stimulus money and EMPLOY people to do the job? Or the EPA. or the state's Wildlife Rangers?"
What's your point? If you're opposed to controlling wildlife populations, why does it matter who does the hunting? If not, why not allow the public to do it? Hunting is a regulated program with very stiff penalties for poaching. Few in the world are as opposed to poaching as ethical hunters, and few have more respect for wildlife and habitat preservation. Despite your misinformed impressions, hunters are not just a bunch of "teenage hotheads just itchin' fer a chance ter shoot something cuz they didn't graduate high school," either.
All your concern about paying the public is completely confused and misplaced. Hunters don't get paid by the state to hunt. Just the opposite, in fact. Hunters pay money TO the state for permits.
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"All your concern about paying the public is completely confused and misplaced. Hunters don't get paid by the state to hunt. Just the opposite, in fact. Hunters pay money TO the state for permits."
That may be the case in some/many/most states and areas, I don't know. I only know my two personal experiences. In both southern Illinois and Northern Minnesota, they pay the public per wolf/cayote carcass, they being the local governments. That needs to stop, IMHO.
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My original question stands. If man comes in, wrecks the ecology through farming practices and killing the predetor, he THEN gets to justify killing the prey because they're overpopulated? Isn't overpopulation a matter of perspective? Wouldn't the animal consider HUMANS being so over populated that they need to keep expanding their territory?
"I know in my parents' suburb a while back, wolves showed up for a summer and were roaming around killing pets. Obviously, something needed to be done to neutralize them, but a number of people were opposed to that."
I'm not one of them. Man's already moved in, so something must be done. There is a couple of things you CAN do, however. First, recognize and document the effect man's actions have had and begin to build an understanding that some places should be pretty much left alone to the animals (there's no reason we can't ALL have space). Secondly, you take steps to REMOVE the predetors to areas where they aren't a threat. One option is to take predators from where they are overpopulated to areas where prey is overpopulated. Another is zoos. Some of the animals might need to be killed, but not nearly as many as if you loose public hunters on them.
"To which the obvious question becomes: what are you supposed to do then, put your pets and kids in danger and let the unlucky ones die?"
Absolutely not. After all, man's life is worth every bit as much as any animal's. But we can LEARN from the experience and endeavor to do things better in the future. Let's face facts, in nearly every case, these overpopulation conditions are the result of man's interference in nature. Otherwise, nature will usually work it out on its own through a rebalancing of predator/prey levels.
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Yes, it IS our responsibility to stabilize and maintain the ecology we have disrupted, and it is in our best interest. If ignored, the prey would be much more likely to encounter a cataclysmic, endangering event, such as a massive disease outbreak, due to decreased habitat and overpopulation.
"Isn't overpopulation a matter of perspective? Wouldn't the animal consider HUMANS being so over populated that they need to keep expanding their territory?"
Um, first of all, you are anthropomorphizing animals. They wouldn't consider us at all, and they don't have a "perspective" from which to consider us. Second, what is your solution? Start killing humans? Take away technology? If so, quit being a hypocrite. Get off the Internet, turn off your electricity, tear down your house to plant a field for habitat, and go live off the land in a cave somewhere.
The fact is, humans are here to stay, and I, being a human, am okay with that. Since that is the case, we have to work within the framework of that reality, which means doing what we can to preserve what wildlife we can. Sometimes, that means population control. Either we do it humanely, or nature does it very painfully.
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Serves them Right
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Something people seem to forget...
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If one thinks that one can just go out in the woods and they will just line up to be shot... not going to happen.
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Controling the human population
I believe that we should go around and shoots Alaska government agents from helicopters to control the governement agents population. LOL!
The images are copyrighted and this posting is copyrighted too and shall not be reproduced. LOL!
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