Celine Dion Shuts Down Blog Of Ridiculous Pictures

from the publicity-rights-gone-mad dept

Thu, Jul 21st 2011 8:47am — Mike Masnick

It's not entirely clear what's going on here, but someone anonymous has pointed us to a post on a blog that was supposedly posting "ridiculous pictures of Celine Dion" (that's the name of the blog) that says the site got a legal nastygram from Dion's lawyers, claiming infringement. They don't provide details of what they think about the site is infringing (copyright? publicity rights?), so it's tough to analyze the specific legal issues, though I can't see how they have much of a legitimate case. Either way, whoever runs the site has agreed to take it down, because the cost of defending it is too high. Of course, that's what Celine Dion's lawyers were hoping for anyway. So the blog is gone, though it did leave this one image as the avatar of the user who put together the site:

In the meantime, how thin skinned and vain a celebrity must you be to shut down a blog showing funny pictures of you? The person who ran the blog notes that it was "superfans" who were using the site, and now they're all shut out of having some fun around a celebrity they like because she's got aggressive lawyers. Sad.

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Filed Under: celine dion, censorship, infringement, ridiculous pictures

51 Comments

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out_of_the_blue, 21 Jul 2011 @ 8:53am

So sad. So important. So in keeping with your charter:
"the Techdirt blog uses a proven economic framework to analyze and offer insight into news stories about changes in government policy, technology and legal issues that affect companies ability to innovate and grow"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- The Incoherent One (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 8:56am
  
  Re: So sad. So important. So in keeping with your charter:
  do not feed.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Atkray (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:55am
    
    Re: Re: So sad. So important. So in keeping with your charter:
    but.
    
    but..
    
    but...
    
    Trolls
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 10:00am
      
      Re: Re: Re: So sad. So important. So in keeping with your charter:
      so many stinky buts ... /sarcasm
      
      :)
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:15am
  
  Re: So sad. So important. So in keeping with your charter:
  Mike will just say "it's my damn blog after all" like he always does when posting random unrelated crap out of the blue and people dare complain. So don't dare or feel the wrath of the almighty Mike.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Marcus Carab (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:20am
    
    Re: Re: So sad. So important. So in keeping with your charter:
    when posting random unrelated crap out of the blue
    
    You are talking to a guy so good at posting random unrelated crap that he chose the name "out of the blue"
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 2:13pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: So sad. So important. So in keeping with your charter:
      haha, I didn't even notice. Awesome.
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- Jeffrey Nonken (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:24am
  
  Re: So sad. So important. So in keeping with your character:
  "...and we absolutely, positively guarantee that we will never post anything else. Or double your money back and oral sex for everybody."
  
  Odd that I didn't notice the exclusionary phrase on the first reading. Or the second.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Ben (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:31am
  
  Re: So sad. So important. So in keeping with your charter:
  ...legal issues that affect companies ability to innovate and grow
  
  Does seem appropriate:
  1. legal nastygram from lawyers (i.e. "legal issue")
  2. innovative blog (arguably a "company")
  3. shut down (i.e. ability to grow if not innovate).
  That seems directly in keeping with the charter you quote. Oddly, of course the whole process of shutting down the blog by Ms Dion's lawyers brings the existence of those photos to the attention of many people (myself included) who would otherwise never have been aware of them.
  
  Welcome the Dion effect: the new incarnation of the Streisand effect.
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  - HothMonster, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:44am
    
    Re: Re: So sad. So important. So in keeping with your charter:
    dont bother, he doesnt understand half of the words in his quote anyway
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  - charliebrown (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:46am
    
    Re: The Dion Effect
    If you go to that blog now, the post about it closing down is actually tagged "the dion effect"
    
    But "The Striesand Effect" sounds cooler IMO
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- Howard the Duck, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:42am
  
  Re: So sad. So important. So in keeping with your charter:
  Need to go bitch on government sites, replacing "charter" with "constitution".
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The Incoherent One (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 8:55am

Streisand Effect?
I had never even heard of this website.... till now. She does make a lot of really goofy faces.
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:25am
  
  Re: Streisand Effect?
  And now a bunch of news organizations that can afford a few lawyers got wind of it... Celine loses, and then loses some more.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 8:55am

"the Techdirt blog uses a proven economic framework to analyze and offer insight into news stories about changes in government policy, technology and legal issues that affect companies ability to innovate and grow"

Emphasis mine.

dude, I mean at least your not an anonymous troll, but you could at least be a troll with high reading comprehension.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 8:55am

So, an anonymous person sent you some story about something where something happened and a site was taken down. Oh, and Celine Dion was involved. Does that sum it up?

Come one man. Is there even a point here? I like Techdirt and all, but this one has nothing to do with anything...
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- halley (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:22am
  
  Re:
  This is certainly an example of a business (from a business aspect, Celine Dion is a brand), where the business's legal staff is getting in the way of her fans. Considering the blog has an ongoing interest in (1) quashing of free speech, and (2) "connecting with fans" (CwF), I think it's just fine to discuss this. Other businesses should take this as yet another example on why the legal staff should not be driving policy or knee-jerking in ways that damages the brand.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Marcus Carab (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:24am
  
  Re:
  I can see two main "points" here: another example of abusing IP law, and another example of the Streisand effect (featuring Streisand 2.0 no less)
  
  Those are both smack dab in the middle of Techdirt's wheelhouse. I guess there's nothing too special or new about this story, but it's hardly shocking that it was covered here, since it involves topics that are central to this blog...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:43am
  
  Re:
  "some story about something where something happened"
  
  Good work! You've just summed up every article on every site on the entire internet. Your point though?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Howard the Duck, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:46am
  
  Re:
  How much thought did you really put into that critique? I mean really? It's to find a relationship to a blog being taken down because of publicity rights, and Techdirt?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:47am
  
  Re:
  You just basically summed up every news item from any source.
  And yes, I'm serious about the "Celine Dion was involved" part. I'm pretty sure that if anything noteworthy happens, she is somehow involved!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- btr1701 (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 10:08am
  
  Re:
  > Oh, and Celine Dion was involved. Does that sum it up?
  
  Not very well, no.
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- The Groove Tiger (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 12:33pm
  
  Re:
  So, someone posted something in the comments of some blog complaining about something. Oh, and an anonymous coward was involved.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- dwg, 22 Jul 2011 @ 9:57am
  
  Re:
  Right-ho. Please stick to posts that relate only to illegible legislation and deep technical issues in the future. Wouldn't want to make the tent any bigger by including IP-RELATED articles that might be relevant/interesting to the 99% of humanity that can't or don't want to read things in the first two categories. Better to keep things just among us and dictate what the other 99% should do--after all, we know better.
  
  /S/.
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Richard (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 8:56am

You can still see some
Here

The internet never forgets...
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- HothMonster, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:46am
  
  Re: You can still see some
  wow this site looks awesome
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- gigglehurtz (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 10:05am
  
  Re: You can still see some
  Oh man. I should have listened to what I learned from Sadly, No! But I got out the boat. Damn your eyes! -for, um, damning mine...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Jeremy7600, 21 Jul 2011 @ 11:07am
  
  Re: You can still see some
  http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:c0E0l4ePEwoJ:ridiculouspicturesofcelinedion.tum blr.com/page/2+http://ridiculouspicturesofcelinedion.tumblr.com/&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk& gl=us&source=www.google.com
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dougal Campbell, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:11am

It's the chilling effect
But if this story was about Microsoft shutting down a site that had funny pictures of Steve Ballmer (and what picture of Ballmer *isn't* funny?), you'd be all over this, I bet. The important part of the article isn't that it's Celine Dion involved, it's that a site got shut down for so-called copyright infringement without saying what the infringements were. Was the site really infringing? I dunno. Was it fair-use? I dunno. But that's where the focus should be.
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Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:23am

ripped off from somewhere...
Celine finds out about the site and goes to talk to her lawyer. His first words when he sees her: "Why the long face, Celine?"

The rest is history.
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:38am
  
  Re: ripped off from somewhere...
  s/Celine/Sarah Jessica Parker
  
  Yup, recycled but still funnay!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nicedoggy, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:28am

Celine Dion the greatest mistake Canada ever made :)
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- ClarkeyBalboa (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 11:21am
  
  Re:
  The Canadian government has already apologized for Celine Dion on numerous occassions! Stop blaming Canada for this already!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
charliebrown (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:29am

Been waiting YEARS to "publish" this

>>>Sung to the tune of "My Heart Will Go On"
Every night in my room
I hear it, I fear it
The high pitched voice of Ms Dion
They play it on the AM
The TV, The FM
You cannot escape this song
Near, far, wherever you are
You will hear this damn song** and
This song just drags on and on

**even though it came out almost 15 years ago now! She had better songs but the radio stations keep playing this frikken one!

Seriously, I like Celine Dion apart from THAT song I parodied above. And taking down those pictures? Low. She clearly has the world's worst publicist or something along those lines.

Incidentally, under section 203, that song parody is allowed to stay on this site unless the editors of the site deem otherwise. It is also "fair use" by being a parody. So too bad if Ms Dion's lawyers don't like it. Only Techdirt staff can take it down. And you can't get them in trouble if they don't! Nyah!
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:34am

she looks like a mug shot of meth heads.

LOL
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Comboman (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:37am

Thin-skinned ideed
Dion (or rather her husband/manager) is extremely thin-skinned. They once cancelled a major concert because of a slightly negative comment by a local music columnist.
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James, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:38am

Not to defend anyone... but...
...this very well could be the work of her manager and she may have no real idea what this was, or that it even happened.

Seems like this might fall under 1st amendment grounds, unless Dion owns the rights to all of those photos, and these people are making money from it.

Personally, I remember a show a while back called, "Stars without makeup", loved it.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 9:59am

Is a woman who sang one song on the Titanic soundtrack really a celebrity?
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- Marcus Carab (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 10:12am
  
  Re:
  Are you kidding? Because for whatever reason, Celine Dion is huge. A quick scan of Wikipedia notes the following records:
  
  - Best-selling female artist of all time (worldwide)
  - Second-best-selling female artist in the U.S. during the SoundScan era
  - Best-selling Canadian artist of all time
  - Best-selling French-language album of all time
  - Only female with two singles that broke 1-million copies in the UK
  - Over 200-million albums sold worldwide
  - 3 Golden Globes, 2 Oscars, 5 grammies, 12 WMAs, 7 AMAs, 7 Billboard Awards, 21 Junos, 39 F�lixes
  
  Personally I can't stand her - but apparently a hell of a lot of people can.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 10:39am
    
    Re: Re:
    These are my favorite kind of troll. Being tricked into admitting knowledge of Celine Dion has to be particularly galling.
    
    I bring you back to 1994: http://www.kibo.com/kibopost/meta_trolling.html
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Marcus Carab (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 10:55am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      LOL. It's an amusing thought, I'll grant you that. But trust me, if I was trying to hide knowledge of Celine Dion, I wouldn't have started with a detailed list of her accolades :P
      
      I'm a Canadian. Celine Dion is even more unavoidable here than she is in the rest of the world (every time I hear "heart will go on" playing in McDonalds I know it's going to be a bad day) so I was surprised to see someone act as though she was small potatoes. The specific stats came from Wikipedia (indeed if you look at her page there, and the page listing her awards, you will notice that my points are culled directly from the intro paragraphs)
      
      Sorry, I just despise inaccuracy, even when it relates to people I don't actually care about :)
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  - Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 1:23pm
    
    Re: Re:
    I hear that. For my money I don't think it gets any better than when Celine Dion sings, "When a Man Loves a Woman."
    Wait, that's not her that's Michael Bolton?
    Sorry, must have got my no-talent ass-clowns with a bunch of grammies mixed up.
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    - Marcus Carab (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 1:44pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Sorry, must have got my no-talent ass-clowns with a bunch of grammies mixed up.
      
      Haha, favourite TD quote of the day :)
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 10:35am

Probably a build-up of negative PR to bring her back into the limelight. As you can tell here she ain't doing much these days.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 21 Jul 2011 @ 11:18am

The Internet Never Sleeps
You can still find plenty of blogs who took from the original and posted photos. Thanks Google!

List of the Day
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2011 @ 1:18pm

This raises an interesting question about fair use: if one is a parody of themselves is it still possible to use the parody exception to copyright and claim fair use?
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Anonymous Jack, 21 Jul 2011 @ 4:10pm

Jackface
Thank the gods Jackface is still available! Hooray for teh innertubez!
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Anonymous Troll, 21 Jul 2011 @ 4:18pm

Ease of Posting
1. Oh so Mike thinks something about something.
2. Mike is always wrong about everything.
3. Mike has no business writing his own blog.
4. Anything Mike says is automatically wrong.
5. I'm smarter than Mike on every subject.
6. I like to use Mike's name while posting anonymously because I learned that in Power Speaking For Manipulation class. When I feel really withering I call him "Mikey" just to prove how mature I am compared to Mike, which is why you should listen to my unsupported accusations and fuzzy, meaningless jabs on every single Techdirt article.

There. Now you can just cut and paste and save your wrists from carpal tunnel.
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Kevin Carson, 23 Jul 2011 @ 12:37am

Another Reason to Hate Her
I remember a while back seeing a trailer for an episode of "Touched by an Uncle," or whatever that stupid fucking show was, with Celine Dion as a guest star. My immediate reaction was "where's a crazed gunman when you need him?"
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hugh williams, 24 Jul 2011 @ 3:44pm

shame alot of the small sites get bullied into closing down
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 5:30pm

he has his charter to seem professional, but really he just blogs about any crap he can, and uses the its my blog opinion site to justify his own ranting
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