Coming
Soon!
From Common Courage Press
Recent
Stories
July
25, 2003
Francis
A. Boyle
Impeaching Bush
David
Krieger
15 Questions
Harvey
Wasserman
Pat Robertson's Supreme Fatwah
Steve Dunifer
Seize the Airwaves!
Dan
Bacher
Federal Judge Throws Out Bush Salmon Plan for Klamath River
Kurt Nimmo
Bread, Circuses, Uday and Qusay
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Weblog
Website
of the Day
Stop the Wall!
July
24, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft Loses...Again
Robert
Fisk
The Ugly Story of Camp Cropper: The
US Torture Camp in Iraq
David
Lindorff
Dumb and Dumber in Iraq
Christopher
Brauchli
Ashcroft Demands Death Penalty in
Puerto Rico
David
Vest
Dylan in Bend
Tom Turnipseed
Killing Saddam & His Family Won't Stop Killing of US Troops
Douglas
Valentine
A Nation of Assassins
Stew Albert
Contract Killing
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Weblog
Website
of the Day
Report on Palestinian Child Prisoners
July
23, 2003
Uri
Avnery
Caesar's Favor
David
Lindorff
Lynne Stewart's Big Win: Ashcroft
Rebuked
Mano
Singham
Iraq's Missing WMD Scientists
Steve
Perry
Better Late Than Never: the Press, the Dems, and Bush's Lies
John Stanton
Avoiding Plato's Republic in America: Is Anarchy the Only Hope?
Patrick
Bond
Bush and South Africa: a Petro-Military-Commerce Mission
Harry Browne
A Victory for a Disarming Irishwoman
Paul
Beaulieu
When the WTO Comes to Montreal
Robert
Fisk
The Sons are Dead, But the Resistance
Will Grow
William
Witherup
Georgie Porgie
Website
of the Day
Lieberman & Falwell:
True Love at Last
July
22, 2003
Diane
Christian
Bad Guy / Good Guy: War Forces;
Peace Frees
Jeremy
Brecher
Solidarity and Student Protests in Iran
Steve
Kretzmann
and Jim Vallette
Plugging Iraq into Globalization
Sam
Smith
Greening the Golden Triangle
James
Plummer
Smile, You're on Federal Camera
Lucretia
Stewart
This Day Shall Not Define My Life:
January 18, 2003
Website
of the Day
Iraq Coalition Casualties
July
21, 2003
Edward
Said
Imperial Arrogance and the Vile Stereotyping
of Arabs
Ron
Jacobs
Shut Up and Shoot
Allan J.
Lichtman
Why is George Bush President?
Elaine
Cassel
How's the Occupation Going? Ask the People of Iraq
Christopher
Brauchli
History Recapitulates: Guantanamo and the Japanese Internment
Camps
Bruce
Jackson
Third and Arizona, Santa Monica
Website
of the Day
John Dean: Taking Apart Bush's State of the Union Speech, Claim
by Claim
July
19 / 20, 2003
Arthur
Mitzman
Will the Pax Americana be More Sustainable
Than the Dot.com Bubble?
Julian
Bond
We Shall be Heard
Cynthia
McKinney
Bush's Racial Politics at Home and Abroad
Mel
Goodman
What is to be Done with the CIA?
Jason Leopold
Tenet Blames Wolfowitz
Mickey
Z.
History Forgave Churchill
Doug Giebel
Impeachment as the Message
Jon
Brown
Whipping the Post
Mano Singham
Cheney's Oil Maps
Steven
Sherman
Nickle, Dimed and Slimed at UNC
Robin Philpot
Liberia: History Doesn't Repeat Itself, It Stutters
Khaldoun
Khelil
Capturing Friedman
Jeffrey
St. Clair
You Must Leave Home, Again: Gilad Atzmon's A Guide to the Perplexed
Lenni
Brenner
Sitting in with Mingus
Vanessa
Jones
Three Dog Night
Adam
Engel
Video Judas Video
Poets'
Basement
Foley, Smith and Curtis
Website
of the Weekend
Illegal Art
July
18, 2003
David
Vest
Drowning in Deep Doo-Doo
Rahul
Mahajan
Deceit Runs Deep
John Chuckman
Enron-style Management in a Dangerous World
Harold
A. Gould
The Bush-Musharraf Conclave
Alvaro
Angarita
In the Eye of the Storm: Colombia's War on Journalists
David
Grenier
Sovereignty and Solidarity in Indian Country...Rhode Island
Dave Lindorff
Bush and Hitler: a Response to the Wall Street Journal
Website
of the Day
Murder of a Whistleblower? Timeline in David Kelly Affair
July
17, 2003
Ron
Jacobs
Sometimes Even the President of the
United States Has to Stand Naked
Lisa
Walsh Thomas
Bush Country: the Venom and Adulation of Ignorance
Martin
Schwarz
Bush Pre-emptive Strike Doctrine is the Bane of Non-Proliferation
Watchdogs
Heidi
Lypps
Better Justice Through Chemistry? Forced
Drugging and the Supreme Court
Norman
Madarasz
Third Ways and Third Worlds: Lula at the Progressive Governance
Conference
Pankaj
Mehta
Criminalizing the Palestinian Solidarity Movement
Marjorie
Cohn
Bush, War Lies & Impeachment: the
Boy Who Cried Wolf
Hammond
Guthrie
(Dis) Intelligence Revisited
Website
of the Day
No Force, No Fraud: the Soul of Libertarianism
July
16, 2003
Jason
Leopold
Wolfowitz Told White House to Hype
Dubious Uranium Claims
William
Cook
Defining Terrorism from the Top Down
Elaine
Cassel
Judge Brinkema v. Ashcroft: She Whom
Must Not Be Obeyed
Jason
Leopold
How Can They Justify the War If WMDs Are Never Found?
Linda Heard
Bondage or Freedom?
Raymond
Barrett
From Detroit to Basra
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Back to the Future in Guatemala:
The Return of Gen. Ríos Montt
July
15, 2003
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Why We Resigned from VIPS
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft's War on Legal Whistleblowers:
the Ordeal of Jesselyn Radack
Chris
Floyd
Barge Poles: Oil Wars and New Europe's Mercenaries
Jason
Leopold
CIA Warned White House Last October that Niger Docs were Forgeries
Gaius Publius
Considering the Obvious: Fool Us Once, Fool Us Twise...Please
John
Troyer
The Niger Syndrome
Becky Gillette
No Conspiracy at Coffeen Nature Preserve: a Response to David
Orrr
Uri
Avnery
The Bi-National State: The Wolf Shall
Dwell with the Lamb
Website
of the Day
Cost of Iraq War
July
14, 2003
Lisa
Taraki
Hot Days in Ramallah
Walter
Brasch
Bush: the Pretend Captain
SOA
Watch
Training Colombia's Killers in the US
Dan Bacher
Yurok Tribe Denounces Klamath River Salmon Killers
Veteran
Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
Intelligence Unglued
Website
of the Day
Coalition for Democratic Rights and Civil Liberties
July 12 / 13, 2003
Arthur
Mitzman
The Double Wall Before the Future
Standard
Schaefer
The Coming Financial Reality: an
Interview with Michael Hudson
John Feffer
A Fearful Symmetry: Washington and Pyongyang
Ron
Jacobs
Shades of Gray in Iran
Elaine
Cassel
Judicial Terrorism Against the Bill of Rights
Tom
Stephens
Civil Liberties After 9/11
David Lindorff
New White House Slogan: "Case Closed. Just Move On"
Jason
Leopold
The Mini-War Against Iraq Prior to 9/11
Lee Sustar
What's Behind the Crisis in Liberia?
Mickey
Z.
AIDS Dissent and Africa
Sam Hamod
Semitic is a Language Group, Not a Race or Ethnic Group
Ramzy
Baroud
Awaiting Justice on an Old Blanket
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Savage Incongruities: the Photographic Life of Lee Miller
Adam
Engel
Parable of the Lobbyist
Robert
Sanders
A Review of Ralph Lopez's American Dream
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Witherup, Guthrie
July
11, 2003
Conn
Hallinan
The Coin of Empire
Tim
Wise
God Responds to Bush
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
The Two Faces of Bush in Africa
Edward
S. Herman
Whitewashing Sandra Day O'Connor
David Orr
Coffeen-gate: What's Going on at the Sierra Club Foundation?
David
Lindorff
An Iraq War & Occupation Glossary
Website
of the Day
Dead Malls
July
10, 2003
Ron
Jacobs
Dealing with the Devil: the Bloody
Profits of General Dynamics
Sean
Donahue
Bush and the Paramillitaries: Coddling Terrorists in Colombia
Yemi
Toure
Who Outted Bush in Afrika?
Robert
Jensen
Politics and Sustainability: an Interview
with Wes Jackson
Ali
Abunimah
US Leaves Injured Iraqis Untreated
Joanne
Mariner
Federal Courts, Not Military Commissions
Website
of the Day
Electronic Iraq
July
9, 2003
David
Lindorff
Is the Media Finally Turning on
Bush?
David
Krieger and Angela McCracken
10 Myths About Nuclear Weapons
Mickey
Z.
Why Speak Out?
Lee Sustar
The Great Medicare Fraud
John
Chuckman
The Worst Kind of Lie
Gary Leupp
"Pacifist" Japan and the Occupation of Iraq
Website
of the Day
Hail to the Thief:
Songs for the Bush Years
July
8, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
Bully on the Bench: the Pathological
Dissents of Scalia
Alan
Maass
Nights of Fire and Rage in Benton Harbor
Chris
Floyd
Troubled Sleep: Getting Used to the American Gulag
Linda
S. Heard
America's Kangaroo Justice
Brian
Cloughley
They Tell Lies to Nodders
Charles
Sullivan
Bush the Christian?
Saul
Landau
The Intelligence Culture in the National Security Age
Website
of the Day
Occupation Watch
July
7, 2003
William
Blum
The Anti-Empire Report
Harvey
Wasserman
The Nuke with a Hole in Its Head
Ramzy
Baroud
Peace for All the Wrong Reasons
Simon
Jones
What Progressives Should Think About
Iran
Lesley
McCulloch
Fear, Pain and Shame in Aceh
Uri
Avnery
The Draw
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Web Log 7/3
July
4 / 6, 2003
Patrick
Cockburn
Dead on the Fourth of July
Frederick
Douglass
What is Freedom to a Slave?
Martha
Honey
Bush and Africa: Racism, Exploitation
and Neglect
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Rat in the Grain: Amstutz and
the Looting of Iraqi Agriculture
Standard
Schaefer
Rule by Fed: Anyone But Greenspan in 2004
Lenni Brenner
Jefferson is for Today
Elaine
Cassel
Fucking Furious on the Fourth
Ben Tripp
How Free Are We?
Wayne
Madsen
A Sad Independence Day
John Stanton
Happy Birthday, America! 227 Years of War
Jim
Lobe
Bush's Surreal AIDS Appointment
John Blair
Return to Marble Hill: Indiana's Rusting Nuke
Lisa
Walsh Thomas
Heavy Reckoning at Qaim
David Vest
Wake Up and Smell the Dynamite
Adam
Engel
Queer as Grass
Poets'
Basement
Christian, Witherup, Albert & St. Clair
Website
of the Weekend
The Lipstick Librarian
Hot Stories
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
July
26, 2003
Extorting
Cameron?
A
Photographer, An Offer and Topless Photos of Cameron Diaz
By JULIE HILDEN
Charlie's Angels actress Cameron Diaz recently
sought an injunction to stop a photographer, John Rutter, from
trying to sell topless photographs and video footage of her.
The photos and footage were taken when Diaz, now 30, was a 21-year-old
model who had not yet gained fame as an actress.
Diaz has made two allegations about the
photos. One is relatively simple: She claims that Rutter forged
her signature on the release for the photos. If she's correct,
then Rutter is in trouble. Of course, he could still try to sell
the photos, but he'd have a hard time doing so, for publishing
the photos might expose the buyer to huge liability.
The other allegation is subtler: Both
Diaz and Rutter agree that before he put her photos on the market,
he had his lawyers approach her first to try to convince her
to buy the photos himself. But they disagree on his motive. Rutter
says he was trying to do Diaz a favor--giving her a chance to
avoid exposure and embarrassment. But Diaz says that he, in essence,
tried to strong-arm her into paying him, by threatening to expose
her then-secret photos if she did not pay up.
Often--but not always--when a person
threatens to disclose secret information unless money is paid,
he or she has  committed the crime of extortion.
Did Rutter commit extortion? To a large
extent, the answer to that question will depend on facts that
have yet to be made public. Nevertheless, even at this preliminary
stage, California's extortion statute suggests some possible
answers.
Was the Photographer's
Offer Extortion, or Unappreciated Generosity?
According to California criminal law,
extortion includes "the obtaining of property"--which
includes money--"from another, with his consent . . . by
a wrongful use of ... fear...." The penalty is up to a year
in prison, or up to a $10,000 fine, or both.
Rutter must likely have inspired "fear"
in Diaz when he told her the photos were going to be published,
with or without consent. And some observers might think this
use of fear was wrongful, especially if there was no valid, signed
release.
But what about the fact that Rutter never
got the money he wanted from Diaz? That is not an impediment.
Under another provision of California criminal law, extortion
can still exist even if the property is not actually obtained--as
long as a threatening letter, or other writing, seeking it is
sent or delivered to the target of the extortion.
Reportedly, Rutter's and Diaz's lawyers
had some communications; if they were in writing, as is usual
with lawyers, then they might fit the statute. Thus, the fact
that Diaz never paid Rutter would probably not be a defense to
an extortion charge.
Does that mean Rutter is doomed to serve
time? Not necessarily.
The Kind of Threats
on Which Extortion Can Be Based
The key is that not every kind of fear
counts as the basis for an extortion charge--the fear must be
"induced by a threat," and only certain kinds of threats
qualify.
Moreover, of those kinds of threats,
only a few seem to apply to the Rutter/Diaz situation. The threat
could be "to expose, or to impute to [Diaz] any ...disgrace,"
or more simply, it could be "to expose any secret affecting
[Diaz]."
It seems hard to argue, in this day and
age, that posing for topless photos amounts to a "disgrace."
After all, Hollywood stars frequent the Playboy mansion, and
some have even posed for such photos early in their careers.
Granted, Hollywood stars do seem to patrol
a thin line between being seductive and actually being nude.
But their right to draw that line is probably better enforced
in the context of civil right to publicity claims, than in the
context of the criminal law of extortion.
When Extortion Relates
to a "Secret," The Danger of Vagueness Arises
What about the other possible basis for
extortion charges, besides "disgrace"--the contention
that Rutter was threatening simply "to expose [a] secret"
involving Diaz?
In my view, this possible basis for extortion
charges--which encompasses even nondisgraceful secrets--is especially
troubling, because it is so broad and vague. For one thing, when
is information truly "secret"?
Suppose Diaz's photos were an open secret
among Hollywood insiders, but unknown to the general public.
Could they be "secret," although they might be known
by hundreds of people? Or suppose a woman is trying to keep a
foible--but not a disgraceful one--from her husband, but all
her friends and family members know about it. Is that still a
"secret"?
For reasons like these, there is a strong
argument that extortion laws that--like California's--extend
even to nondisgraceful secrets might be unconstitutional. Vague
laws violate the Due Process clause by failing to give notice
as to what is, and is not, criminal.
There is also a particular problem with
the use of this basis for extortion charges against Rutter in
particular--which is that he did not seem primarily to be threatening
to "expose a secret." Rather, he was offering--or perhaps
threatening--to sell Diaz's photographs to others if she did
not buy them.
Suppose Rutter had called Diaz and said,
"If you don't pay me, I'll tell everyone you posed nude."
That would plainly be extortion, at least if virtually no one
previously knew that fact.
But in fact, what seems to have happened
is that his lawyers called her lawyers, and offered to sell her
property that belonged to him. (The rights to, and the copyright
on, a photograph typically belong to the photographer, whether
or not a release has been signed.)
It would seem odd if trying to sell one's
own property privately--in the absence of fraud, a secured loan,
or a prior crime such as theft of the property--could itself
be a considered a crime.
Yet that may be the theory of the Los
Angeles D.A.'s office, if it chooses to charge Rutter not only
with forgery, but also with extortion.
In This Context, Civil Alternatives to
An Extortion Charge May Be Sufficient
This analysis may worry readers who feel
that Diaz's position is a sympathetic one. But there's no need
to be concerned for her.
First, as long as her claim of forgery
is true, Rutter will be punished. Under California law, "Every
person who, with the intent to defraud, counterfeits or forges
the seal or handwriting of another is guilty of forgery."
Second, without a release, Rutter--despite
his ownership of the photos and footage--could, as noted above,
face a suit from Diaz under various theories. Among them are
the right of privacy and the right of publicity--the right to
control the commercial use of one's image.
A plaintiff in a successful right of
publicity case can recoup all the publisher's profits. And that
means it is a foolish publisher who ignores possible right of
publicity claims, and proceeds without a release.
Julie Hilden
practiced First Amendment law at the D.C. law firm of Williams
& Connolly from 1996-99. Currently a freelance writer, she
published a memoir, The
Bad Daughter, in 1998. Her forthcoming novel Three
will be published in the U.S. in August 2003 by Plume Books,
in the U.K. by Bantam, and in French translation by Actes Sud.
This column originally appeared on Findlaw's
Writ.
She can be reached at: julhil@aol.com.
Julie's new
website is a lot of fun. Have a look.
Weekend Edition Features for July 19 / 20, 2003
Arthur
Mitzman
Will the Pax Americana be More Sustainable
Than the Dot.com Bubble?
Julian
Bond
We Shall be Heard
Cynthia
McKinney
Bush's Racial Politics at Home and Abroad
Mel
Goodman
What is to be Done with the CIA?
Jason Leopold
Tenet Blames Wolfowitz
Mickey
Z.
History Forgave Churchill
Doug Giebel
Impeachment as the Message
Jon
Brown
Whipping the Post
Mano Singham
Cheney's Oil Maps
Steven
Sherman
Nickle, Dimed and Slimed at UNC
Robin Philpot
Liberia: History Doesn't Repeat Itself, It Stutters
Khaldoun
Khelil
Capturing Friedman
Jeffrey
St. Clair
You Must Leave Home, Again: Gilad Atzmon's A Guide to the Perplexed
Lenni
Brenner
Sitting in with Mingus
Vanessa
Jones
Three Dog Night
Adam
Engel
Video Judas Video
Poets'
Basement
Foley, Smith and Curtis
Website
of the Weekend
Illegal Art
Keep CounterPunch
Alive:
Make
a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online!
home / subscribe
/ about us / books
/ archives / search
/ links /
|