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Wrong or not, the majority of them will never be prosecuted because it's not hard to see that some 18 year old webmaster operating from mom's basement doesn't HAVE anything monetary to be taken. Most would take the pics down at the mere threat of lawsuit, (which is all most people really want to be done anyway) but reality dictates that there's no point suing someone that's broke.
As for modifying something... only a fool would modify or alter an existing pic owned by someone else and then claim ownership. But if, for example, someone pastes Britney Spears face on a nude porn model's body and let's it fly loose on the net... the logistics of tracking that back to the person that modified it out of the billions of possibilities and branches of other possibilities are beyond comprehension. No one is going to waste their time with it.
Doesn't mean stealing the pics was right in the first place... but who are you going to serve the court papers to?
You found it on Joe Snuffy's Home Page. Well that doesn't mean he did the modifying.... it could have been passed around through 4 million computers before it ever reached him. Is he right in posting it based on that? No. But if push comes to shove, he's gonna pull it down. The odds of him getting prosecuted for putting it on his home page are a billion to one.
I'm sorry Gemini, I know you are very passionate about copyright law.... but the reality, as I see it, is that prosecuting a copyright infringement at such a low level is virtually impossible because of its impracticality. I'm glad the laws exist. They need to. The threat of lawsuit is a powerful deterrant. But no one is gonna sue "Billy Webmaster" because it's a tremendous waste of time.
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