Ethics-Legality of Posting Videos and Pics from Costa Rica

CRblush · **Joined:** Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:12 pm **Posts:** 7

A topic that has been kicked around from time to time here is the ethics and legality of posting pictures and video of exploits in Costa Rica.

As far as I can tell the established rule on CRT is that it is acceptable to publish pictures as long as it is limited to the VIP section, ostensibly to minimize the risk of embarrassment to the girls. Linking pictures on threads has been banned for several years.

The truth is there appears to be no real protection for the girls on CRT. The Costa Ricans have a forum also, and itâ€™s one of the top 50,000 website in the world. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/forodecostarica.com

Back in April foro posted a lot of pictures from HLH, Sportsmens, and the Del Rey. So far the thread has received 37,341 views and 674 comments, and it stays on the top of itâ€™s category.

You can see the thread and bypass the login through the Google Cache.

http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:cp ... en&ct=clnk

It appears that this content came from the CRT VIP area. As I am not a VIP I can not confirm but it has been reported to me from a reliable source that this is the case.

Mind you that Costa Rica is a small country and when this many people see something, well we have an expression in Costa Rica, that translated to â€œNo bigger hell than a small townâ€.

A user by the name of Safecracker posted a video on Youtube of the HDR this summer, and it was quickly taken down. There is some discussion this previous thread.

https://costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/vi ... hp?t=28855

As far is legality is concerned keep in mind that taking the video or pictures is a completely separate act from publishing it.

When you take pictures you are subject to the laws of the local jurisdiction where you perform the act. So, all the talk about U.S. privacy laws, which are in fact mostly state laws doesnâ€™t apply. For example you just arenâ€™t going to get convicted under Pennsylvania law for taking pictures of some tico on his toilet while you are in Costa Rica.

So the only legal issue related to publishing your video of pictures. The operative word is â€œyour picturesâ€, because people who grab pictures from the VIP section of CRT and publish them are stealing.

Copyright issues are all about who was behind the camera lens and very little to do with who or what was photographed. Rights are much less of an issue when the images arenâ€™t sold for a commercial purpose and the use is editorial.

So, when you publish pictures like theseâ€¦..

http://theteflonmonger.blogspot.com/200 ... e-top.html

You really donâ€™t need a model release. The only issue left is slander or defamation, which is a very difficult case to purse in a U.S. court. I doubt any of these chicas is going to come up with 15k and a travel visa to fund that kind of litigation that in all propablity will fail in a U.S. court.

Sometimes people try to use copyright protections to get embarrassing videos or pictures of themselves removed from webpages. The reality is that you canâ€™t claim copyright when someone takes a picture of you.

The Michael Crook case is a pretty good example and as a part of his court settlement had to make this video apology.

http://laughingsquid.com/michael-crook- ... ogy-video/

The upshot is that legally it is open season on chicas in Costa Rica. The best place to host your pictures is Google Blogger because Google requires legal complaints to be signed and put in writing. As long as you mark your blog as mature content it just wonâ€™t get taken down with just a few email complaints.

Uploading to Youtube just isnâ€™t the best idea because although owned by Google the Terms of Service are restrictive. You can also forget about facebook and flickr.

So, now that we have finally addressed the legal issues in a concise manner I say, what about the ethics?

Personally I am all about publishing pictures of the girls, but I really donâ€™t like the idea of getting my fellow American brethren, unless of course they want to be famous. Maybe thatâ€™s a flawed argument, but I figure they are getting paid and the risk of being photographed isnâ€™t going to decrease the number of chicas.

Besides if I had a nickel for every time a chica squawked about â€œfalta de respecto, defamacion or demandaâ€ I wouldnâ€™t be bothering to write this post. I am good enough to play by their rules when I am in Costa Rica, but as far is the Internet is concerned I say God bless America.

Admin 1 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:09 am

The content after reviewing the thread aside from 2 photos did not come from the CRT VIP Area these photos for the most part almost all of them come from the area of HLH that has been renovated. We have no photos from that new area in our sections hence we have no control over the posting of photos on other sites that did not come from here.

The ethics of posting photos has been discussed here in at least 100 different threads, feel free to review the search engine to find them and you will find ethically in my opinion members here that tend to follow the rules though we do have some bad apples, it appears the majority of our members are good about issues such as this.

Danielson · **Posted:** Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:19 am

crblush

what about a place like HLH that prohibits pictures and videos and the policy is posted in all public areas from what I can see. yet someone sneaks a camera in and takes pictures anyway then post the pictures on awebsite that is monetized with adsense or some cpa network.? there are legal courses of action. more targeted at the hosting companies and partners asscociated with them.

dan

SlimJohnson · **Posted:** Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:17 am

Danielson wrote:

crblush

what about a place like HLH that prohibits pictures and videos and the policy is posted in all public areas from what I can see. yet someone sneaks a camera in and takes pictures anyway then post the pictures on awebsite that is monetized with adsense or some cpa network.? there are legal courses of action. more targeted at the hosting companies and partners asscociated with them.

dan

Well Dan the photos shown on that web site were taken when HLH/ZB was a FUN place to be. HLH stopped the taking of photos in public areas after the renovation. Those photos bring back some fond memories. Karen was smokin' hot!

Icantstayaway · **Posted:** Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:49 am

SlimJohnson wrote:

Danielson wrote:

crblush

what about a place like HLH that prohibits pictures and videos and the policy is posted in all public areas from what I can see. yet someone sneaks a camera in and takes pictures anyway then post the pictures on awebsite that is monetized with adsense or some cpa network.? there are legal courses of action. more targeted at the hosting companies and partners asscociated with them.

dan

Well Dan the photos shown on that web site were taken when HLH/ZB was a FUN place to be. HLH stopped the taking of photos in public areas after the renovation. Those photos bring back some fond memories. Karen was smokin' hot!

Unfortunately, we guys that 'monger', our group of guys is in the minority.
Not in the minority that we do it but in a sense that we are unashamed of it.
Now, while it may not be illegal . We do not need to flaunt it 'in the face of the majority'. With the internet becoming so permeate, some pictures that were meant to be shared with each other here were being accessed by unintended viewers. This brought unwanted attention, handicap ramps etc.

www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Ethics-Legality of Posting Videos and Pics from Costa Rica

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