It was an act of courage - our valiant AP photographer had to storm the house, with nothing more than a small army of men with guns to protect him. The subject of his picture was very elusive indeed - a sleeping boy. Surely it took the reflexes of a cat to snap such a picture! This AP photographer will surely win a pulitzer for his truly honorable efforts to capture a small boy with a gun aimed at his head.
It's a shame he has to be such a dick about it.
April 27, 2000 - Sean Bonner created the "Elian Wassup" video - an innocent and completely hilarious Flash animation. It was submitted to the NG Portal, and quickly became one of the top pics. It wasn't much longer before the AP released the hounds - Sean had to shut down his Geocities site, and I removed the movie from The Portal. The tide turned, however, as thousands of Americans stood firm on their First Amendment rights and sent complaints to the AP. The story was covered by wired.com, cnn.com, and many other sites. On April 28th, Playboy.com posted the video on their site. I decided it was safe to bring it back to newgrounds.
Here's the letter that was received:
From: David Tomlin
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2000 11:09 AM
To: tfulp@fast.net
Subject: Infringement
Mr. Fulp:
I'm David Tomlin with The Associated Press. One of your customers is
infringing on our copyright in several photos from our Elian Gonzalez
coverage. I have sent him the note appended to this email.
I am sending it to you as well because your service may also have
exposure from your customer's conduct unless you act promptly to remove
our material from unauthorized display.
My address and phone number are in the note below if you have questions.
David Tomlin
-0-
To: sean AT sixsite DOT com
cc: (bcc: Dave Tomlin/TheAP)
Subject: Infringement
Mr. Bonner:
I'm David Tomlin with AP.
We've already written the Geocities copyright agent about your
unauthorized defacing and display of AP pictures on your site there.
I'm writing now about the display at:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view.php3?id=266
You are exposing yourself to liability for copyright infringement that
can include both fines and possible criminal penalties. We'll go for
whatever it takes to get our material out of your hands.
Please acknowledge immediately that you understand and are taking down
the display of AP pictures at the address above.
David Tomlin
AP
This ordeal generated a ton of traffic for both newgrounds and Sean. Hurrah!
