Quote:
|
I don't know about Sigma Kappa, but we have to have express permission to use any pictures, from everyone in the pictures. And the pictures are the property of the chapters.
|
If linking to pictures posted on the web were a violation of property rights, the whole concept of HTML would be illegal. No one is charging money to view this thread, so who owns the pictures and whether they gave permission are completely irrelevant. And even if Greekchat were a commercial publication, quoting a few representative pictures from a site for commentary purposes is practically the definition of fair use.
If you put pictures up on public web sites, people are going to link to them and comment on them. They're legally entitled to do that, and more importantly for practical purposes, it is inevitable that they will do that. In particular, when it comes to attracting attention, putting up a web site with pictures of scantily clad hot sorority chicks on spring break (see above) is the Internet equivalent of a Super Bowl ad. Either these chapters with the bikini shots are embracing that truth, or they have their heads buried deep in that spring break sand.
So I say, bring on the links to cute girls! They're great to look at and they've voluntarily put themselves on display. And chapters, if you don't want strangers ogling your members, join us in 1994 -- oops, I mean 2005 -- and put those glamour shots on a password-protected site.