Streisand sues web site, says privacy violated (more on the hypocrisy and 1st amendment issue)

Mercury News ^ | May 30, 2003 | Paul Rogers

[risk]

Barbra Streisand thinks that people, people who fly past her house with cameras, are the nosiest people in the world.

Claiming her privacy was violated, the diva actress and singer has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Silicon Valley millionaire and environmentalist Ken Adelman. The suit demands that he remove an aerial photograph of her oceanfront Malibu mansion from his Web site, www.californiacoastline.org .

[risk]

``I would say she has zero chance of winning,'' said attorney Terry
Francke, of the California First Amendment Coalition in
Sacramento. ``The law of privacy, even the paparazzi extensions of it,
is not about taking pictures of structures. It is about people.''

I hope so! Related posts about Barbara:

Professor Streisand: What's Next?
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/893714/posts
Streisand Sues Environmentalist Photographer for Website Photo:
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/920537/posts
Barbra Streisand Sues Over Photos of Home:
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/920923/posts
Streisand files $50 million lawsuit over aerial photos:
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/920071/posts

And Rush Limbaugh pretty saying much what I would have said:

Total, Unadulterated BS - Barbra Streisand

Here is a random segment of coastline I picked from the image map:

And here's some more background about Ken Adelman from Tech TV:

Shutterbugs Capture Coastal Concerns

Ken and Gabrielle Adelman keep watch over California's fragile coastline.

By Jim Goldman, Tech Live Silicon Valley bureau chief

Silicon Valley millionaire Ken Adelman and his wife, Gabrielle, don't look the part of guerrilla environmentalists. But they are, and their exploits are drawing unheard-of attention to the California coast. See why, tonight on "Tech Live."

The Adelmans keep busy by snapping high-resolution photos every 500 feet along California's 1,100-mile coastline. From their Robinson R44 helicopter, the Adelmans intend to fly and shoot the entire coast, from Oregon to Mexico, save for the space over Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California.

What's more, they're posting the entire collection of 12,000 images on the new, completely free website of the California Coastal Records Project.

Eye in the sky

"I've got three-quarters of a terabyte of disk space on my desktop Macintosh to hold it all," says Ken Adelman, who founded TGV Software and Network Alchemy. He sold TGV Software to Cisco Systems and Network Alchemy to Nokia during the technology industry's 1990s boom.

Their project catalogs the coast's natural beauty. It also captures human development, both legal and otherwise. One snapshot revealed an illegal seawall near Half Moon Bay constructed by a local golf course operator.

"This would never have been seen if it wasn't for us," Aldeman says. He proudly says that the California Coastal Commission recently took action to have most of the seawall removed.

The couple also discovered a strange landslide that may be the work of illegal bulldozing. And there are hundreds of situations like this, now captured in digital images. It's evidence of damage that might have gone unnoticed had it not been for this project.

Thank digital

The project would have been next-to-impossible without dramatic improvements in digital photography.

"We connect a special cable we made from the GPS in the helicopter into the camera," Aldeman says. "And the camera records the GPS position of the helicopter in the file of the picture every time we click the shutter."

The camera itself connects by FireWire to a laptop, and every image on a five-hour flight is instantly stored on the hard drive. Aldeman fires off shots about every three seconds.

"Latitude, longitude, and altitude of the helicopter are recorded every time we push the button," he says.

Creating a legacy

The Aldemans' website has become a powerful new tool for the Sierra Club, the California Coastal Commission, and other environmentalist groups and agencies trying to protect the coastline from illegal development.

The site has also become a thorn in the side of coastal developers and private property owners, many of whom contend the Adelmans' activities infringe on their privacy. The Adelmans, however, explain on their site that what they're doing is not only legal but serves thousands of Californians.

For Adelman, however, the project has also become an important way to create a lasting legacy.

"Both of the companies I created are gone. Their products no longer exist in just a few short years," he says. "These photos, I think, 30 years from now will still exist."

Originally posted December 30, 2002

[Cowboy Bob]

Streisand, 63, whose résumé includes an Oscar, eight Grammies and 47 gold records, wants the photo removed and $10 million in damages, which she says she will donate to charity.

I bet Streisand figures she'll get the money from a settlement (tax free), and then donate it to a charity (tax write-off)!

[risk]

California econut Barbara Streisand proves that she doesn't really care about the environment by attacking a photographer who seeks to document the condition of California's coastline, and by doing so, snapped a pic of Barbara's ostentatious mansion. Ken Adelman's website is interesting and educational, and most of all provides an archive of our current ecological situation. I think it's a great idea. Developers can prove their innocence, and conservationists can prove where and when problems actually begin -- especially if this project eventually provides multiple snapshots of the coast over time.

But Barbara isn't happy! Her own privacy comes before the historic ecological record. How typical of the kinds of lunacy Carry_Okie and farmfriend have been criticizing. Here's a quote that is sure to raise all of our hackles in one way or another:

Democrats must reach out to voters who want sane gun control, voters who want to protect choice, voters dedicated to saving the environment. -- Streisand's open letter to the democratic party

In that letter, she attacks our superb president for defending our nation. Then she attacks the second amendment, and by extension, hunters. Hunters are notorious for being among the nation's most important conservationists. Now with this lawsuit she confirms that she's an enemy of the first Amendment, as well. By attacking Adelman with this viscious lawsuit (a typical enviralist tactic) Streisand, who elsewhere has attacked Bush for his reservations on the Kyoto accords, also proves that she doesn't care about the environment.

[Pharmboy]

Yours is the fourth post of this item...

[MotleyGirl70]

the diva actress

What the heck does "diva" mean anyway?

It's gotta be a feminazi thing. Why, why do they say that? It's so dumb. I'll type this once but; WHY?

What makes you a "diva"? A woman with voice that can sing???????????? THAT makes YOU a diva. How about the single mother trying to make it on her own to give her children the best she can offer; a safe home, education and most of all love.

And this witch is worried about some photos.

Man, the Left never, ever, ever surprises me! EVER!

[risk]

>>>> Yours is the fourth post of this item...

It's a unique article, anyway. We've been discussing the issue of econut hypocrisy, and Barbara's lawsuit was a perfect segue.

[Lancey Howard]

``It is inconceivable to me that someone who proclaims herself an environmentalist would threaten to dismantle one of the greatest high-tech projects to protect the California coast,'' said Sierra Club attorney Mark Massara. ``At some point, someone needs to sit her down and tell her the public interest is at stake here.''

Hilarious stuff!
Clearly Massara needs to be sat down and told that the inconveniences of environmental sensitivity are only for the little people, not rich Hollywood limousine liberals like Streisand.

[daviddennis]

I wonder if a photograph of his house is available on the site, and if so if it is marked as his house.

I have mixed feelings about this idea because I am not fond of the California Coastal Commission and its efforts to make it impossible to build on the coast, or to preserve what you've already built. I am sympathetic to someone who puts up an illegal seawall to try and save his property.

That being said, Barbra's not very bright. She should know that this kind of lawsuit virtually guarantees that her damages will be maximized.

For what it's worth, it looks like the home is on Cliffside Drive, one of Malibu's most expensive streets. It's probably worth somewhere between $10-15 million.

Rush's account notes that it's falling off the cliff; it does look like part of their neighbor's property is (the gazebo is looking particularly bad), but it looks like Barbra's property is OK ... for now.

If you're as rich as she is, and if you have the friendship of Coastal Commissioners, you can build pretty much anywhere and protect what you've built. Stabilizing hillsides is, simply, a matter of money. And, thanks to the Coastal Commission, political pull.

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty disgusted that it takes political pull just to take measures to save your home from falling down the cliff or being pounded to death by the ocean :-(.

D

[ladyinred]

Diva Babs is not like the rest of us, she needs and deserves her privacy you know. That is why she keeps sticking her nose into everything that goes on this country lately and getting herself in the news! :-)

[kcar]

Bob-wah: 12,200 photos of the CA coastline of which yours constitutes an insignificant proportion, doesn't sound like a very serious affront to your personal privacy, as protected by that sacred Bill of Rights (BOR) Amendment, the Papa Luigi's.
I'm sorry, I may have confused that with the plebians' BORs, as enumerated for goobers unknown. My mistake. Still, I think you should just take a pill.
NCFreeper.

[blackbart.223]

"And because he took it from a helicopter with a Nikon digital camera, his photo shows details -- from her swimming pool to lawn furniture -- that cannot be seen from the road or the beach below."

He should be sued if ,for no other reason, that one of his photos might show Babs fat a** in a bikini by the pool.

Talk about shock and awe

[risk]

I am sympathetic to someone who puts up an illegal seawall to try and save his property.

I think one politically-neutral side-effect of these pics is that careful developers can prove that they haven't hurt anything by building and using land on the coast. Before the pics, environmentalist litigators could say that any old phenomenon was "because of the capitalist aggression."

[Pharmboy]

Not meaning to be a pain in the butt, but you could have continued discussing this issue tagging on to one of the three existing posts of this article. Uniqueness of topic is not the issue re reposts.
Best,
PB

[TomB]

Not meaning to be a pain in the butt, but you could have continued discussing this issue tagging on to one of the three existing posts of this article. Uniqueness of topic is not the issue re reposts.

Strange, I've never heard JimRob complain about posting different articles about the same subject, only reposts.

Is this a new policy?

[libertylover]

``I don't need permission to take a picture of her house if it is taken from a public place,'' he said. ``And the airspace is a public place.''

Is there an altitude threshold on a "public place". If you buzzed 50 feet above someone's house, that would seem to be a violation to me, though that's apparently not what happened here.

[Knightsofswing]

Yes, her favorite charity.................herself!
Who care if somebody can see her house, where she might spent some time. That is if she every gets there, when she is not chasing hillary around!

[Valin]

Maybe she should declare her house a no fly-zone.

[lainie]

This is an excellent suggestion.

[SkyPilot]

Ahem--Babs. You want to tell me that my $500 per child tax credit is "pure Republican G-R-E-E-D!" again?

[seenenuf]

Are you nutz? What don't you like about the private property content in the Constitution? A taking of her property to give to those who haven't laid on her couch is
un-American.