In this YouTube era, consumers, citizen journalists and other people who aren't employed by mainstream media companies can now easily post their homemade videos, MP3s and photos online.
In
many ways, the emergence of YouTube, Flickr and other platforms that allow people to distribute their own content has marked the biggest shift in the media world in decades. One obvious result is that
it's far more difficult for event organizers to limit the publication of photos and videos when consumers create content than when a limited number of media organizations did so.
Now some
groups are attempting to rein in consumers' ability to create content by establishing limits on photos and videos as a condition of admittance.
Consider, the organizers of Burning Man festival
are demanding that that audience waive certain rights, including the right to post photos and other images online. Among other conditions, ticket purchasers must agree to assign the copyright in their
photos or videos to Burning Man, the Electronic Frontier Foundation reports. Audience members also must agree to refrain from
using Burning Man trademarks online -- which means they can't label photos or videos with the words "Burning Man," the EFF reports.
Burning Man isn't alone in attempting to go dictate these
types of terms via ticket sales. The college sports division Southeastern Conference also is attempting to prevent fans from taking photos or "sharing accounts or descriptions" of games, according to
The Tuscaloosa News.
It's not clear whether a court would decide such provisions are enforceable. Certainly
as a practical matter, policing consumers' Flickr accounts and Facebook pages seems like a futile task. But these types of reactionary policies could still scare a lot of fans off from posting
material that they would otherwise be allowed to distribute. These policies also could backfire against event organizers -- who, after all, would otherwise get the kind of free fan-generated publicity
that spurs people to buy tickets.