Barbra Streisand Hits Aerial Photographer With $50 Million Lawsuit

Thank God the constitution enables all citizens to exercise their freedom of speech to say what they believe. That's what's great about democracy and what's great about this country. - Barbra Streisand, "My Thoughts On Freedom Of Speech," www.barbrastreisand.com (posted March 24, 2003)

The California Coastline Project, dedicated to photographing the entire length of the left coast in sequence for environmental purposes, finds itself crosswise with one of the most vocal self-espoused environmentalists in America - singer Barbra Streisand. Streisand is suing the non-profit organization, The California Coastal Records Project, photographer Ken Adelman and his associates for depriving her "of the economic value of the use of the images of her property and residence." In other words, the advocate of First Amendment Rights quoted at the top of this story believes Adelman and his Robinson R-44, well off the coast (as can be seen in the photographs below), has no right to shoot her little slice of California.

Right To Privacy?

The lawsuit, filed May 20, 2003, says Streisand has plenty of experience with "stalkers, threats to her safety, and undesirable personalities." The photos of her home in Malibu, she says, provides such undesirable people with a "roadmap" to her front gate.

"The photographs of the Plaintiff's property and residence, which Plaintiff (Streisand) believes were shot by Adelman from a helicopter piloted by his wife flying overhead on the beach side of the property, are extremely well-taken with equipment that reflects the most cutting-edge visual technology," states Streisand's lawyer in the lawsuit. "So much so, that the photographs of the Plaintiff's property are shot at a very fine (high) resolution thus showing details that would be impossible to see via the naked eye while viewing from a public vantage point....

"Moreover," the suit continues, "the web site identifies the property location by its longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates and by showing its location on a map, and names the home the "Streisand Estate, Malibu.... The clarity with which the details of her private residence are paraded on the World Wide Web for all to see has caused Plaintiff considerable anxiety."

"I think there's a free speech issue here," said Adelman, quoted by the Associated Press. "The photographs were taken in a public place where she doesn't have a reasonable expectation of privacy."

A statement on the coastline project web site, www2.californiacoastline.org, says, "We refuse to be intimidated by these tactics, which would undermine our constitutional protection of free speech and which would compromise the integrity of this historical and scientific database."

Further, Susan Jordan, an Adelman supporter and non-profit coastal volunteer, says "It's important for people to understand that she's concerned about one frame out of 12,100 that includes her property as well as others. Her house takes up roughly three percent of the entire frame. In fact, it's not a photo of her house. It's a photo of the California coastline, which happens to include her property."

Adelman, a 39-year old Silicon Valley millionaire, takes the pictures while his wife, Gabrielle, flies the R-44 (shown above). The helicopter was flown southeast-bound along the coast at altitudes ranging from 150 to 2000ft, but typically 500-700ft, depending on the terrain, detail, and air traffic control constraints. The port-side rear door was removed, giving the photographer an unobstructed view of the coast.

The camera is hand-held to allow Adelman to correct for the motion of the helicopter. The image frames are approximately half-overlapping, meaning the shutter was depressed when the image had moved halfway across the viewfinder. For various reasons, we made more than one pass over certain areas. A sort algorithm is applied to the data to merge the photographs from multiple passes into a continuous coastline.

FMI: Threatening Letter From Streisand's Lawyer, Streisand's Lawsuit Against Aerial Photographer