It has been popular in recent years for photographers (professional and amateur alike) to publish their pictures of Trinidad and Tobago's various Carnival activities online, especially on social media sites like Facebook. But now, the Trinidad & Tobago Copyright Collection Organization (TTCO) considers this to be a possible copyright infringement: ‘If you take those photos and post them on Facebook, what you have done is give someone the option of graphics,’ TTCO president Richard Cornwall told the Trinidad Newsday. ‘They can pull these images and compile them in a magazine which could then be used for commercial gain. ‘If that could be traced to your website page, you can be held accountable as the source for the act of infringement.’ However, Wired 868 doesn't consider such threats to be serious: Whether anyone takes seriously a threat from an organisation that, in 2013, does not have an official website or Facebook page is another matter entirely. And even the Newsday got its name and acronym wrong as the body was incorrectly referred to as the “Trinidad and Tobago Copyright Collection Organisation (TTCCO).” The Copyright Music Organization of Trinidad & Tobago (COTT) stated that it has no connection to the TTCO, which according to news reports is serving the interests of the National Carnival Development Foundation. Kejan JJ Haynes, former multimedia journalist at Caribbean Communications Network in Trinidad and currently a student at Columbia University in New York, explored the legality of the issue: The streets of Trinidad and Tobago definitely constitute ‘public space.’ Remember, the issue raised isn’t you posting your pictures online. It’s if your pictures are taken without permission and then used for financial gain. That’s why so many photographers place their watermark on their photos before posting them. It’s to keep people from stealing them. So unless you willingly gave someone flagrantly copyrighted material knowing fully well that they were going to cash in, you’re fine. That being said, if you can prove that someone else has used your pictures for financial gain you have a better chance of getting remuneration because your intellectual property was stolen. Philip Edward Alexander criticized the position taken by Cornwall and TTCO: Hogwash! Any bush lawyer would love to face this ‘organization’ in a court of law where rules of evidence applies and challenge their authority or his claim. The fact of the matter is Trinidad Carnival takes place in the public space OWNED by the taxpayers and cannot be constricted as rigorously as these people want it to be. The Carnival is part of the culture of Trinidad & Tobago, and any monetizing must be shared with the people from whom the largess flows or none at all. Perhaps a day can come when bandleaders, in exchange for securing their art, are forced to pay a hefty ransom to enjoy the public space on which their art is transformed into cold hard cash. To quote a legal luminary and doctor friend of mine – ‘If band leaders want to enjoy copyright protection, let them fund the entire festival and utilize private venues for their presentation. As long as I am funding carnival as a taxpayer, and my road is being used for the parade, all rights to images are surrendered by the band leaders and masqueraders.’ Alexander felt that the TTCO was trying to dominate what should be a public event: This is a brazen attempt to tax the people for the enjoyment of their own culture in their own country after the fact and should be resisted with all patriotism and national pride. The legislation under which this organization TTCO wants to strong-arm the people needs to be repealed, the organization disbanded, and Cornwall and the rest of the supporting cast who attempted this cultural pickpocketing sent on their way. Nigel A. Campbell responded to Alexander by stating that the situation iss more complicated than it seems: As defined by our laws, ‘work of mas is an original production intended to be performed by a person or a group of persons in which an artistic work in the form of an adornment or image presented by the person or persons is the primary element of the production, and in which such adornment or image may be accompanied by words, music, choreography or other works, regardless of whether the production is intended to be performed on stage, platform, street or other venue.’ It is irrelevant to imply that because the mas is played on the public street, ‘any monetizing must be shared with the people from whom the largess flows or none at all.’ The law is specific in the definition of a work of mas, and public display and performance is a right enshrined by law.