I recently became aware that certain websites appear to use photos they copy from elsewhere on the WWW to create fake profiles on social networking sites, such as MySpace, to draw traffic to a site they control and on which someone makes a profit from advertising. Such appears to be the case for [http://imxyo.com/], which claims to be copyright Active Interactive, Inc., and which is registered by proxy so that the identity of the registrant remains anonymous to the public. http://imxyo.com/?id=74 contains the photo of a woman, also depicted in a MySpace page, a profile which someone I know, who fervently claims it is a photo of her, claims was not created by her. The profile boasts 6293 friends, and prominently advertises the imxyo.com site both in its profile and in comments its owner has posted in "friends"' profiles. The profile has received 921 comments, which sounds like a lot for a fake profile, until you realize it's less than 1 comment every 6 friends. A nice illustration of the promiscuity and meaninglessness of MySpace "friendship".

Regarding the legality of this, it is worth noting that if one can access the site from New York State (which one can, last I checked) and there are photographs, it may well be a violation of New York Civil Rights Law Secs. 50-51 which prohibit, among other things, the use of any person's likeness "for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade without the written consent". This has been read fairly broadly but also includes exceptions for "newsworthy" content.

If celebrities were upset at the unauthorized use of their photos to set up not-for-profit fan club pages, I bet you some people are going to be more upset about the use of their likeness to make big advertising bucks. Sounds like a case ripe for a class-action suit.

Up to World Affairs.