STREISAND NEWS ARCHIVED

Barbra Archives has been on the internet since May 2003 ... Even in the early days of this website, Barbra Archives was reporting important news about Barbra Streisand.

ALL ARCHIVED NEWS PAGES FOUND HERE

May 2003-2005

“The Streisand Effect” background & history

By: Matt Howe — Barbra Archives

The term “The Streisand Effect” has entered the lexicon and is often used in news articles about information on the internet that receives more attention after trying to suppress or remove it. The history of this association with Barbra Streisand goes back to 2003 — but most of the articles that use the term have the specifics wrong: Streisand merely wanted her name removed from a photo identifying her home.

“The Streisand Effect” was coined by Mike Masnick on the “Tech Blog” website Techdirt in 2005. This was after Streisand’s attorneys filed a lawsuit in May 2003 against Kenneth Adelman, a retired software engineer who created a website that featured thousands of high-resolution photographs “to document the entire coast to preserve it from degradation,” said his lawyer to the L.A. Times. The helicopter photograph of Miss Streisand’s property showed everything in detail — doors, the pool, roads, etc. 

Streisand’s lawyers argued that the website specifically labeled her house, using her name, unlike the other homes that were identified anonymously by longitude and latitude numbers.

Streisand, who had experienced the unwanted attention of stalkers and paparazzi in the past, said in a statement [screen grab of press release on this page]: “We first asked Mr. Adelman simply to remove my name so as not to specifically identify my home. I asked only for the minimal respect for my safety which he had accorded thousands of others whose homes he photographed without authorization from his personal helicopter.”

[Link to BarbraStreisand.com statement from June 2003]

Streisand also stated that any proceeds from the lawsuit would be donated to organizations that protect the environment. Her attorney, John Gatti, noted that “Although Mr. Adelman purports to have undertaken the photography for environmental reasons, his website does not attempt to explain how depicting Ms. Streisand’s home together with her name serves any environmental purpose.”

[Link to PDF of June 2003 Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction]

In December 2003, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge tossed out Streisand’s lawsuit saying that the photos did not show Streisand herself, just her backyard, and that there was “no serious invasion” in the case.

Adelman made a point of telling the press that after Streisand’s lawsuit his “relatively obscure site” received more than a half-million visits because of the photo. But he did not address the fact that using Streisand’s name in the first place helped promote his website. 

Mike Masnick picked up the story and posted his term, “The Streisand Effect,” on Techdirt, describing what happens if an attempt to hide or remove information from the internet causes more attention and awareness to be focused on that information.

Sources:

• “Streisand Sues Over Photo of Her Home” by Kenneth R. Weiss.  The Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2003.
• “Streisand Files Motion to Stop Software Tycoon’s Use of Her Name to Attract Visitors to His Website Depicting California Coastal Homes” Press Release, June 6, 2003.
• “Software Tycoon Uses Streisand’s Name to Promote His Website Despite His Granting Tens of Thousands of Other Home Owners Anonymity” — BarbraStreisand.com Truth Alert, June 9, 2003
• “Judge Rejects Streisand Privacy Suit” by Kenneth R. Weiss. The Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2003.
• “Tabloid Misstatement” — BarbraStreisand.com Truth Alert, March 8, 2004.