The recent New York Times piece “Who Is The Bad Art Friend" has everyone weighing in online as readers wonder how one woman’s story of organ donation could result in allegations of plagiarism and drawn-out legal battles. Brianna Wu, executive director of Rebellion PAC, and Kelcee Griffis, senior telecom reporter for Law360, joined Sue O’Connell on Greater Boston to break down the viral story.
During Gamergate, an online harassment campaign that targeted women in the gamer community in 2014, Wu was subject to harassment from people online going through personal parts of her life, similar to what happened in the “bad art friend” story. She says the case, a “really human drama,” brings up ethical questions.
“The more interesting story here is — the New York Times had every right to publish this story,” she said. “I think there are some questions in the newsroom — was it really worth the damage that they’ve done to these two women’s lives?”
Griffis said that copyright law is complicated and sometimes open to interpretation, but it’s not uncommon for the legal protections to favor the “secondary creator,” even if they write about someone’s personal life.
“There is this sense that personal work or your story shouldn’t be shared by someone else,” she said. “But copyright law very much protects the creators of secondary works.”
WATCH: ‘Bad Art Friend’ Sparks Debates On Journalism Ethics, Copyright Law And Cyberbullying
