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While I appreciate your explanation, and links, it seems to me that I said essentially the same thing you said.

I am not any sort of professional at this. My blog is read by two to three people every day so no one’s going to bother going after me.

But I did say that it would be far more dangerous to go posting faces on the internet, for example, without a release or permission of some sort, rather than the actual taking of their pictures as the poster was positing.

I don’t know about public events, accidents and such as being permissable cause I don’t do that sort of thing. I’d be very careful about it and that’s what my post said, based on my limited experience.

Public figures are a whole nothing thing.

Beyond that, I’m just an amateur. An amateur a bit confused as to why you capitalize that I should LEARN the Rules! when I said to be careful about posting pics of people without their permission.

I’m not, or will I ever be, involved in anything likely to require model releases.

I do know that posting pics of people without their permission on your Blog is dumb. People have a right to their privacy and they can sue if you don’t respect that.

I’d always get some sort of permission although, heh, I’ve never encountered this.

What I DID encounter, if you want a story, is a commenter on my Blog who posted a very nasty news item about a soap opera star who owned a dance studio in New Jersey. I didn’t know anything about it but the commenter DID provide a link to his assertions and I personally checked the link and it was legit.

The soap opera star had been accused of photographing young girls in the changeing room of another dance studio before moving to NJ. The soap opera star was accused, according to the link provided by the commenter. The article did not give any details after the accusation.

So this soap opera star writes me an email and tells me he’s going to sue the bejeesus out of me for allowing this comment on my Blog as ...and this guy really said this...the newspaper links was not legit.

So I wrote him back and told him that the link provided by the commenter was indeed legit...why was he lying?

The soap opera star writes back and says....well, okay...maybe the article was legit but the charges were later dropped. Well damn....who’s doing the lying here, the soap opera star or the commenter?

I said I wasn’t taking down the comment because here was this guy lying to me and the comment was backed up by a legit link to the assertions he made in his comment. frankly I think this soap opera star was a pervert photographing young girls in the changeing room and this is why the commenter was so upset. I figure if the soap opera star was so damn innocent why did he lie to me? Maybe hoping I wouldn’t check? Hey, I’m a true crime guy....this spells G U I L T Y to me.

The problem was the commenter did make some other assertions that were not backed up by links to anything and at some point I had to decide which battles I wanted to fight. I took down the comment but I’m a bit bitter about it. I really believe this soap opera star is a pervert and was browbeating anybody trying to get the truth out.

Well hey, my little Blog tale isn’t about photographs but I would argue that common sense might go a long way.

If one is in the business, then perhaps more research is justified.

In summary, I’d be darn careful of putting private individuals’ pictures in a public setting because unless they’re a public figure....you could get sued.

It my story and I’m sticking to it.