cannabisnews.com: State Police Surfing the Web Woodstock Criminals! State Police Surfing the Web Woodstock Criminals! Posted by FoM on August 03, 1999 at 09:04:58 PT By John Kekis, Associated Press Source: Boston Globe ROME, N.Y. - State police today said they have received 40 e-mail messages in their cyberspace investigation of crimes at Woodstock '99 that has raised questions about using journalists' photos. State police continue to post 14 photographs on their Web site, including 10 used without permission that were shot by Associated Press photographers. The AP protested as soon as it learned of the unauthorized use and sought unsuccessfully on Monday to have the pictures removed from the site. State police Lt. Jamie Mills said today that the photographs will remain on the Internet site. She wouldn't discuss what information was provided in the e-mail messages. The photos show concertgoers breaking into pay phones, tearing down the 3-mile-long Peace Wall, looting a vendor's truck and robbing an automated teller machine. The police ask the public for any additional photos and details of the identities of people shown. ''As far as we're concerned, the material up there is unauthorized of the AP,'' said Vin Alabiso, vice president and executive photo editor for the news service. ''They have told us that they don't believe they're doing anything wrong with it and therefore they're going to leave it up there. We're looking at other areas to force our point of view.'' Sam Boyle, chief of the AP's New York City Bureau, discussed the site with various officials on Monday. ''We have two concerns - violation of copyright and the journalistic separation from law enforcement,'' Boyle said. A letter faxed to state police Monday night from the AP's Robert Penchina stated: ''We demand that the state police immediately cease and desist from any and all acts infringing on AP's copyrights, including but not limited to removing all AP photos from the state police Web site.'' The AP photos were put on the state police Web site on Friday, according to M.J. Edelman, Web master for the state police. ''I did it under orders,'' Edelman said Monday. She declined further comment. Monday morning, Mills of the public information office said the pictures would be taken off the site. Boyle then received calls from higher officials asking for permission to keep the pictures up, which he said could not be granted. The state then said it believed it was acting appropriately in using the pictures. Glenn Valle, chief counsel for the state police, said his review indicated that there may not be an issue of copyright infringement. ''We don't think that we're violating the copyright or infringing on the copyright in this manner,'' Valle said. ''It was material that was already published. It's like walking around with the front page of the (New York) Daily News asking, 'Do you recognize this guy?' ''The use of the pictures under these circumstances is appropriate,'' Valle said. ''I believe you have to be sympathetic to our position that there's an overriding public interest.'' Chaos erupted in the festival's final moments as the Red Hot Chili Peppers played the closing set. Just before midnight on July 25, the last day of the three-day concert, more than a dozen fires were set, and looting and vandalism followed. Most of the 150,000 concertgoers still at the 3,000-acre venue were not involved. Security inside the festival was provided by a 1,250-person force that organizers said was not properly trained to handle such a situation. With no one to stop it inside, the mob was left to rampage for nearly 90 minutes before 500 troopers in riot gear moved in.Pubdate: August 3, 1999http://www.boston.com/news/daily/03/woodstock_net.htm © Copyright 1999 Boston Globe Electronic Publishing, Inc. Woodstock's Bitter Ending - July 29, 1999 http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2263.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: