That's not what it means by public interest.

It means that it's something that is crucial for people to know.

The fact that some random guy had an affair isn't really in the public's interest. It really doesn't make any difference to anyone except him and his wife if he's had an affair. However, if the guy was doing something bad that affected many people like say touching little kids or selling tainted food, that would be in the public's interest to know. Essentially the person would need to give cause as to why people would need to know the information that was said or written in order to defend against the charge.

For the most part that wouldn't involve Korea or Koreans on the vast majority of topics. Other than the Japanese/Korean editors who constantly war on there.
Sure they can be all different countries, but we know that the hosting/registration/etc doesn't have anything to do with Korea.

It would really only end up in the courts here if the subject and editor were both in Korea. Koreans don't seem to do a lot of suing of foreign nationals who aren't here to defend themselves in the courts, at least nothing that really makes the news.

They should be glad they aren't in South Korea.
After moving here and giving the laws a good read, it's quite interesting.

Truth isn't a defense here. Simply saying something negative about someone is sufficient for defamation, and the only defense is "public interest". If you can prove it was in the public's best interest to know that information you're okay.

Further defamation is part of criminal law here. 2 years for defaming someone with a true statement, 5 years for a false statement. There is a separate law for defaming the dead with a false statement.

Korea also has public insult laws on the books. So if you insult someone publicly so that others can hear it, that's also a criminal offence.

To a certain extent, the laws are somewhat interesting. they have a "keep your nose in your own business" kind of quality about them. I'm not sure what would happen to a thing like wikipedia if it was hosted here.

Doesn't that only apply to old irrelevant information?

Oxford, a Korean Lego clone, actually had the foresight to make sure their girls sets used the same bodies. Even their hello kitty line uses large heads attached to regular bodies.

Despite Oxford bricks being lego compatible (and as good quality wise) sadly their minifigs aren't totally the same. The bodies are slightly different. You can swap hands and heads but that's it. They are the same size though, so outside of some slightly off looking legs they can mingle

They also didn't completely overdo it in the pink purple department:

http://oxfordtoy.co.kr/pro/up_...

A set like that goes for about $45 USD in Korea.

I really wish they'd get their act together though and focus on developing lines like Lego does. Their military line is incredible.

The fact that you need to put art in scare quotes indicates that you've got some kind of inherent bias here, and it's obviously coloring your perspective.

This tells me you have no idea what the words "explicit" and "implicit" mean, in a legal context or otherwise.

I'm aware of what they mean. I think in most situations, at least the first time one party tries to snap some intimate photos, a direct question would be asked "Do you mind if I take these photos?" or "is it okay to take some pictures?" or even a "let's take some photos" waiting for a confirmation. Allowing the photographs to be taken in that context is explicit. Further along in the relationship the party may just take the phone out and start snapping as it's assumed that the consent continues and it's unnecessary to ask every time.
That's implicit consent unless the party suddenly objects at some point.

Nobody is revoking the creator's right to keep "art" that they have legally obtained informed consent for. For example, I think I should be able to write a contract that says I will allow you to take my photo, but that you have to destroy all copies of it after five years. You don't have to agree if you don't want to take the photo. Should the law prevent such a contract?

The problem is there was no duration specified at the time of the creation. That was not the contract as created, and it's a non-starter here. This is exactly like you agreeing to pose for photos then 5 years later suddenly going back and saying "oh yeah, you know what I know I agreed to them and you put all that work into them, maybe even exhibited them, etc, but now I'd like you to destroy them all, k thanx"

That's pure and simple bullshit.

The subject never specified they were for the length of the relationship, and there is no reason the photographer should be the one who suffers for them failing to specify the terms they wanted when they consented to have the work created. Now the article mentions that she took some herself. It's certainly within her rights to withdraw any implied usage rights when she shared those photos with him and ask for those to be destroyed/returned.

but "compromising" photos are a special case.

You talk about America being puritan but then think nude photos should get special care. Which is it? There is in fact no reason that nude photos should get special attention. A photo is a photo is a photo.

That is a totally unwarranted assumption, many such photos are taken without explicit consent in either the legal or common usage. But let's just run with the specific example you want to use, to keep things simple. He asks "Can I take some nude photos?" and she says "Yes, go ahead."

It's not unwarranted at all. Unless the pictures were taken secretly via hidden camera the issue of taking pictures was discussed and the subject agreed.

Otherwise if one party whipped out their camera and started snapping away and the other party didn't want it, they would have stated as much.

If someone is going to court to withdraw consent, it's because consent was given in the first place.

You continue to get hung up on the legal definitions and legal precedent (particularly American law, I assume). That's fine, but you need to be clear on that. It is quite probable that a judge in America, right now under current laws would not require someone to return or destroy all nude photos of their ex. Just because the subject hasn't given unlimited explicit consent is not LEGALLY important. Morally, ethically, logically, yes. Just not LEGALLY, right here, right now.

That's right, it isn't legally important, that's the way the law works. Oral contracts are also legally binding in many places. So while they may not have a signed piece of paper, the verbal consent given to take the photos is a contract to create those works.

If you don't think the law regarding photography has changed since 1814, then I'd have to say you were mistaken. All the laws that govern this case have changed dramatically since the invention of photography and they continue to evolve at different paces and in different directions depending on the jurisdiction. It is quite possible that the laws covering this area in America will change, but even more likely that courts will interpret existing laws in light of new technology as they have done in many cases, including this one in Germany.

It's changed, but an author's right to their own work has pretty much always been tantamount. This is a dangerous road to travel for art.

There is absolutely explicit consent given when the image is created. Unless the party is claiming they didn't consent at the time, consent was given.

Usage rights are not the same thing as ownership and copyright.

However, personal private usage rights to any photograph a photographer creates is always a given, regardless of any other usage rights. The photographer has a right to keep that in his personal collection. He may not be allowed to display it publicly, use it commercially, or even hang it in his house, but having the image sitting on a hard drive is absolutely within his rights.

Unless the subject has a written "work for hire" contract in most jurisdictions, the photographs are copyright and owned by the photographer. Changing your mind later because of a personal relationship doesn't somehow trump hundreds of years of law surrounding art.

That's why nude models have contracts. Often there is a clause that lets them back out later, but only if they compensate the artist.

No they do not.

That's why they have contracts, because if they get cold feet after the fact the photographer can point to it and say sorry, but you signed off on this, I'm not tossing away all my hard work. I don't know of any standard modelling contracts that include clauses for a model to change her mind later.

Really? Because I note that there has been a crack down on revenge porn sites in the US.

Yes, and what's that all about? Is the crackdown about consent to the creation of the photograph or usage?

They consented to having the image created at the time. They would admit as much by taking it to court to revoke their consent. It doesn't really matter how they consented, both parties are in agreement that consent was given at the time to create the photo. Once an image is created you can only talk about usage rights regarding any public usage of the photo. They certainly can't build a time machine and go back and revoke the consent they gave to actually take the picture at the time.

They may not want the photographer to be able to use the image by publicly displaying it going forward, but those are usage rights, that has nothing to do with the consent given when the photograph was taken. The artistic ownership and control of the image belongs to the author of the photo which the subject is not.

A photographer has copyright by virtue of being the author of a creative work. That's it. You do not need a release to own copyright. Model releases are not about copyright. They are about usage rights.

The fucking stupid coming out of you is just mind boggling.

While that may apply to future use, if consent is given to take a photo you can't go back and ask them to delete it either. They own the artistic copyright on that image. Whatever the merits may be. The subject consented when it was created. They might disallow further publishing of a photo, prevent it from being seen publicly, but to force someone to delete all traces of it is madness.

There is a lot of retaliatory butthurt behaviour on the internet.

You make one comment someone doesn't like and suddenly it's open season on everything you've ever said, regardless of it's worth. Somewhere like Reddit, someone will go through and downvote your last 40+ comments just because you got the better of them in a debate. Downvoting without commenting is the last vestige of the defeated. They know their argument can't hold water, so rather than concede the point, or move on, they go through and downvote anyone who spoke against them. While some comments are generally stupid enough that they need no reply (or further replies than the ones they've already received), someone who just abandons a discussion in favor of downvoting damages a community.

I can remember one exchange over on reddit, something on Korean language, where a native Korean chimes in as a reply to my comment "This guy is totally 100% right why is this being downvoted?" And it was all because of some other topic where a handful of butthurt children couldn't handle being proven wrong on a point so decided to run around downvoting anything else I'd posted within the last few days.

I've had it happen on Slashdot as well. Not in awhile, because I don't comment here as much as I used to (I used to frequently get mod points, but not that much recently). A few times, almost always after a debate with someone, the other party (I can only assume) would get mod points, and then past posts of mine, like ones over a week old, would suddenly all be moderated down as troll or something like that. I think I even made a post a few years ago about vindictive moderation.

Say what you will about all the access devs have now, but it was that time when things were greatest.

People were still experimenting. Not just with concepts but core mechanics. Interfaces, everything. It was the wild west.

People weren't yet dumbing things down to make them more "Accessible", when you got a game there wasn't going to be another one in 5 minutes. The internet wasn't everywhere. People still had slow connections when it came around. You read magazines, hunted for games and traded with friends.

The early days were really the best for the entirety of computing. Sure, things are flashy, we have such powerful machines now. Those were the days of great games and great indie games.

They never declared it impossible. They said it was a riskier more uncertain market with no return potential. There is a difference.