The devil, details and a coordinated campaign

Mississippi law prevents candidates and other groups from coordinating campaign efforts.

For instance, if Chief Justice Jim Smith was to have a photo shoot, state law would preclude him from sending those photographs to, say, IMPAC to be used on mail outs or to MFEP to be used in television commercials.

However, if said photos are on the Internet, what — save copyright laws and theft of intellectual property laws — would prevent IMPAC from stealing those photos and using them anyway they wish.

From a Sunday article in the Clarion-Ledger:

[Smith political advisor Morgan Baldwin] acknowledged it appears at least one group borrowed photographs of Smith and also his wife from the candidate’s Web site. Groups may have borrowed photographs of other judicial candidates in other races.

Of course, Justice Oliver Diaz brings up a good point:

“These groups can’t use those photographs without permission,” said state Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr., who is running against [Bubba] Pierce. “If somebody were using images of my wife or children, I’d be up in arms. I don’t approve of these independent groups, but to do nothing to challenge them is actually to agree with them. It rises to a level of coordination.”

The devil, as they say, is in the details. These photos on the Internet are no more than 72 dpi, and would be virtually impossible to use in video or printed material.

But even if these are the actual photos used, what does it say about a Supreme Court justice who cares nothing about special interest groups stealing his photos? Especially when his campaign manager says they can do nothing about it.

Surely Mr. Smith, a judge, knows that he could file suit against those groups for stealing or copyright infringement.

I wonder if Smith would be so nonchalant about this theft if the group who stole those photos from his website used them in negative pieces against him?