YOUR RIGHTS TO YOUR PHOTGRAPHS ARE GONE!!!!!!!

Body: Re: Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008

American photographers and artists are loosing even more rights! Photos of your baby taken from your public blog could end up on sex toys for sale. Your teens Myspace picture could be used in a 900 line commercial and there's not a thing you could do to stop it. A classy painting your American soul slaved over for years could be stolen to be marketed on garbage bags, with NO royalties paid to the artist.


The CURRENT May 17, 2008 Senate version of the Orphan Works legislation is a nightmare for those who work with photographs at all. Public showing of images and art, especially on the Net, will no longer have value for the artist with there being NO legal consequenses for misuse of photographic images; we will in effect be raped of our creations.


Now everbody really WILL be an artist -- at your expense!
The changes that went through today say that it doesn't matter if an infringer looks for an owner at all. Soon there will, in effect, be no copyright on visual art in America. BUT, it is not a final version yet and could get dumped altogether in several years time, after a study of the effects (they have to see how badly it hurts us first -- really!). There will be more changes before the concrete is set, but I wouldn't hold my breath as to those changes being any good.


Each round of new changes makes it worse for us and better for the sacred almighty "infringers", as they say. How on earth can this possibly gel with International copyright laws?!? Will we be in violation as a total country? YES! How will the new system distinguish between my American images and those of, say, a Canadian sisters images??? There's no way to tell, so this whole thing is bound to create a giant retarded mess, but it is a fact.


We're loosing our lefts AND our rights!

ASMP (photographers site) is posting up to date info and offers links so that you can read info first hand WITHOUT RUMORS at
http://www
.asmp.org/news/spec2008/orphan_update.php

!*!*!* If you have held off, for any reason, writing to your state Senator, NOW is the time for action! Find your two Senators here
http://www

.visi.com/juan/congress/

Visit the following link to find out more, though this page does not yet reflect the current information. Easily send a letter opposing this legislation to your representative from a one click action here. There is also a letter for non US artists to use.

http://capwiz
.com/illustratorspartnership/home/