Why Sing When You Can Sue? [Barbra Streisand vs. free speech]

aero-news.net ^ | Sat., May 21, 2003 | ANN Staff

[Criminal Number 18F]

Why Sing When You Can Sue?

Barbra Streisand Hits Aerial Photographer With $50 Million Lawsuit

Thank God the constitution enables all citizens to exercise their freedom of speech to say what they believe. That's what's great about democracy and what's great about this country. - Barbra Streisand, "My Thoughts On Freedom Of Speech," www.barbrastreisand.com (posted March 24, 2003)

The California Coastline Project, dedicated to photographing the entire length of the left coast in sequence for environmental purposes, finds itself crosswise with one of the most vocal self-espoused environmentalists in America - singer Barbra Streisand. Streisand is suing the non-profit organization, The California Coastal Records Project, photographer Ken Adelman and his associates for depriving her "of the economic value of the use of the images of her property and residence." In other words, the advocate of First Amendment Rights quoted at the top of this story believes Adelman and his Robinson R-44, well off the coast (as can be seen in the photographs below), has no right to shoot her little slice of California.

Right To Privacy?

The lawsuit, filed May 20, 2003, says Streisand has plenty of experience with "stalkers, threats to her safety, and undesirable personalities." The photos of her home in Malibu, she says, provides such undesirable people with a "roadmap" to her front gate.

"The photographs of the Plaintiff's property and residence, which Plaintiff (Streisand) believes were shot by Adelman from a helicopter piloted by his wife flying overhead on the beach side of the property, are extremely well-taken with equipment that reflects the most cutting-edge visual technology," states Streisand's lawyer in the lawsuit. "So much so, that the photographs of the Plaintiff's property are shot at a very fine (high) resolution thus showing details that would be impossible to see via the naked eye while viewing from a public vantage point....

"Moreover," the suit continues, "the web site identifies the property location by its longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates and by showing its location on a map, and names the home the "Streisand Estate, Malibu.... The clarity with which the details of her private residence are paraded on the World Wide Web for all to see has caused Plaintiff considerable anxiety."

"I think there's a free speech issue here," said Adelman, quoted by the Associated Press. "The photographs were taken in a public place where she doesn't have a reasonable expectation of privacy."

A statement on the coastline project web site, www2.californiacoastline.org, says, "We refuse to be intimidated by these tactics, which would undermine our constitutional protection of free speech and which would compromise the integrity of this historical and scientific database."

Further, Susan Jordan, an Adelman supporter and non-profit coastal volunteer, says "It's important for people to understand that she's concerned about one frame out of 12,100 that includes her property as well as others. Her house takes up roughly three percent of the entire frame. In fact, it's not a photo of her house. It's a photo of the California coastline, which happens to include her property."

Adelman, a 39-year old Silicon Valley millionaire, takes the pictures while his wife, Gabrielle, flies the R-44 (shown above). The helicopter was flown southeast-bound along the coast at altitudes ranging from 150 to 2000ft, but typically 500-700ft, depending on the terrain, detail, and air traffic control constraints. The port-side rear door was removed, giving the photographer an unobstructed view of the coast.

The camera is hand-held to allow Adelman to correct for the motion of the helicopter. The image frames are approximately half-overlapping, meaning the shutter was depressed when the image had moved halfway across the viewfinder. For various reasons, we made more than one pass over certain areas. A sort algorithm is applied to the data to merge the photographs from multiple passes into a continuous coastline.

FMI: Threatening Letter From Streisand's Lawyer, Streisand's Lawsuit Against Aerial Photographer

[Criminal Number 18F]

Folks, even Jayson couldn't make this up if he tried. Barbra, the Hillary! of the Left Coast (in the sense of temper tantrums and disdain for "the little people"), wants a website that shows the entire California coastline -- made at private expense by a guy who is trying to document the coastline for environmental purposes -- to black out the area around her "estate." Stalkers, you know. Paparazzi, even.

The legal brief seems to suggest that what she fears is some kind of seaborne commando raid that this aerial photo makes possible. Sheesh. (Hey, hose-nose, we ZOG paycheck patriots have better photos than poor Adelman took).

Another amusing thing: the lawyers have the sheer yarblockos to argue that the constitutional right that's at issue here is not Adelman's first amendment rights of free speech, but Barbra's right to "privacy." Someone tell me what Article of the Constitution has that in it. I've never seen it, but then I'm not the lawyer for a haughty camera hound like Barbra Strident. Last I understood, even the wackiest definition of privacy meant she could have an abortion, not order helicopters flying a mile from her house out of the sky.

Source website provides daily aviation oriented news.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

Here's the pictures:

Here's the good guys:

The source story also contains a gauzy publicity shot of Hose Nose Strident. I'll spare you the trauma.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Thank God the constitution enables all citizens to exercise their freedom of speech to say what they believe. That's what's great about democracy and what's great about this country. - Barbra Streisand,

Thank God you dont have the slightest idea of what the Constitution is for you might be dangerous .... Otherwise your just another idiot!!!

[Jeff Gordon]

Clear days, when you can see forever, are not for the common man. If you can not afford this kind of property, you have no right to see it.

[Tacis]

The actual pictures are supposed to show some sort of drainage pipe from her imperial grounds that drains unto the public beach below the bluff. My bet is that the drain, for whatever purpose, was built without the appropriate Malibu permits and probably in violation of some state environmental laws.

Alas, the California nonprofit environmental watchdogs would NEVER think about asking questions about Bab's projects. But, there must be some honest outfit out there that would ask about a Nixon project and would ask about a Streisand project. And, if it's really bad, for example, some sort of project to dump photochemicals onto the beach rather than dump them into the Malibu sewage system, maybe the feds might get involved.

[PhilDragoo]

[Adrastus]

More liberal hypocrisy. Us pissants don't get view all the coast, only that part she deems fit for us.

Frankly, who really gives a poot what this thing is doing. Next thing will be FAA re-routing air traffic so no one can see her coast. PUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Libloather]

Thank God the constitution enables all citizens to exercise their freedom of speech to say what they believe. That's what's great about democracy and what's great about this country. - Barbra Streisand, "My Thoughts On Freedom Of Speech," www.barbrastreisand.com (posted March 24, 2003)

Or build where they wish - eh? Let's rock...

[Liz]

What a POC she is.

[D. Brian Carter]

If anyone's interested, Babs lives at 6838 Zumirez Dr, Malibu, CA 90265-4317. Hit the link for a sat photo of her estate. Once there, you can get a map directly to her house. Just FYI.

[onyx]

I wish she'd move to France.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Thanks but no thanks.

I'd rather vist South-Central L.A.

[Libloather]

Hit the link for a sat photo of her estate.

How many folks can she sue?

[freekitty]

If I were provided a road map to her house, I would burn it and run as far as I could in the opposite direction.

[PhilDragoo]

[Outraged]

David Geffen, a billionaire music mogul and world-class fund-raiser for Gov. Gray Davis, wanted a seawall on the beach in front of his Malibu estate. Children's television tycoon Haim Saban, a $642,000 Davis donor, hoped to build a palatial Malibu beachfront compound. And investment banker Gary Winnick, whose firms have pumped $525,000 into Davis' campaigns, was backing a huge housing development in a West Los Angeles wetland, as well as a bold plan to lay fiber optic cables across the Pacific Ocean floor.

In the end, these three wealthy, politically connected donors overcame controversy and environmental concerns to obtain the permits they needed from the California Coastal Commission, a powerful agency charged with controlling development along the state's spectacular 840-mile coastline. So did almost everyone else on a long list of heavyweight Davis donors who sought permits from the commission during the governor's first term, a Chronicle analysis of state records shows. (Beverly Hills Citizen)

Apparently Geffen's deal was that he could build on public property, provided he builds into the structure(s) access to the beach -- the ole' bait-and-switch --Geffen built the structure but intentionally constructed a wall prohibiting public access to the public beach...When the California Coastal Commission came down on Geffen, Geffen's tool, Pay-to-Play Gray Davis, allowed the violation to slide.

The liberal elite have taken over Malibu and created legislation that totally insulates the coastal town from peasantry infiltration.

[prisoner6]

Yeah I would bet the pipe is illegal in some fashion. It looks to me not like a waste pipe but more like a runoff drain. Pretty BIG...3-4 feet diameter. Could also be used to drain the pool.

What gets me, because I worked in lighting for a LONG time, is the number of what appear to be walkway lights. They're along the walk at cliff's edge and also around the hose decks. Probably inorporate some kind of fence, at least on the decks.

I'm guessing they're spaced 4-5 feet apart which is OK for fencing but way too much for lighting. Maybe only every other one lights, but I doubt that.

It's also possible they aren't light but decorative tops.

No matter, I wonder if it bothers babs that some of them appear to be out of plumb...kinda like her.

prisoner6

[Liz]

How many folks can she sue?

Hey, she hasn't had a hit record in ages. And she's got a young husband to support.

She's gotta do something to make a buck.