Task Force violates Federal and International Laws
April 15, 2003
We have been witness to the Task Force changing policy, not following rules
(if there are any rules), not following legalities as to the proper burial of
infected birds and now we must report even a more flagrant breaking of the
law - the sacred copyright law.
Approximately during the week of March 24, 2003, they began showing a new
PowerPoint presentation at the Task Force meetings which is entitled
BIOSECURITY (PET BIRDS WITH PICTURES).ppt and includes pictures of exotic
birds. The file was made available for download via the internet yesterday
from an announcement made on the UC END list (LINK). We downloaded that 12
meg file and in an attempt to take it apart and make it smaller so that
others might be able to see it, we found that the presentation contains
COPYRIGHTED photos by two persons. One is not able to see that these photos
are copyrighted in the actual presentation since they are conveniently
cropped off as they appear. The uncropped photos do contain a valid copyright
notice and the photographers ID. These uncropped photos are included in the PowerPoint distribution file.
We directly contacted both of the photographers and found that they had
neither given any permission for use of their photos nor had any knowledge of
their being used. Needless to say, both photographers are extremely angry
about this. The Task Force has spent over $73 million dollars thus far on END yet did not offer to pay for the use of the photos or even ask if they could use them.
The PowerPoint file itself shows that it was last edited by Lawrence E.
Hawkins, it was revision 123 and total editing time was 3542 minutes. The last page of the presentation contains the following information:
Dr. C. Gabriel Sentíes-Cué
California Animal Health & Food Safety, Fresno-Branch
University of California, Davis
One note, a photo of a quaker was contained in the presentation. This bird is illegal to own in the State of California and would have been killed on sight even if it was not a dangerous contact. Was there a subliminal intention behind this?
While we have observed the Task Force killing healthy birds, we now have
proof that they feel they can flagrantly break any laws they so choose, even
the copyright law. This should NOT go unpunished.
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