Story Archive

Unfair Competition

“I really just like capturing the moments,” says Anthony Mazur, 16, a sophomore at Flower Mound (Texas) High School. He shoots a lot of photos, and the policy of the Lewisville Independent School District is that students own the rights to things they create, even at school. Selling his photos enabled him to buy his own high-end camera — but the school district has ordered him to shut down his photographic web site. Even though he owns the photos he takes, the school said he couldn’t profit from them. Then they said there was a “student privacy issue” when other students are depicted in his photos, such as at sporting events. And then they said he’s “abusing his special access” to the sidelines at sporting events. Yet “the school principals themselves are posting images of sporting events online,” Mazur says — “The same ones I’m going to.” He says school officials are “trying to coerce me [with] threats of in-school suspension. And making some weird comment about reporting me to the IRS.” (RC/WFAA Dallas) ...This is just a guess, but I’ll bet the adults at the school have a lot more to fear from the IRS than a 16-year-old.