I decided to check that everything on Lamar's official campaign website was copyright-cleared and on the level. Lamar is using several stock images on his site, two of which I tracked back to the same photographic agency. I contacted the agency to make sure he was paying to use them, but was told that it's very difficult for them to actually check to see if someone has permission to use their images. (Great news, copyright violators!) However, seeing as they're both from the same agency and are unwatermarked, it seems fairly likely that he is the only person on the entire internet who is actually paying to use a stock image (and he'd be an idiot not to).

So I took a look back at an archived, pre-SOPA version of his site.

This is a screenshot of his site as it appeared on the 24th of July, 2011.

http://i.imgur.com/3LXXq.jpg (linked on purpose)

And this is the background image Lamar was using. I managed to track that picture back to DJ Schulte, the photographer who took it.

And whaddya know? Looks like someone forgot to credit him.

I contacted DJ, to find out if Lamar had asked permission to use the image and he told me that he had no record of Lamar, or anyone from his organization, requesting permission to use it: "I switched my images from traditional copyright protection to be protected under the Creative Commons license a few years ago, which simply states that they can use my images as long as they attribute the image to me and do not use it for commercial purposes.

"I do not see anywhere on the screen capture that you have provided that the image was attributed to the source (me). So my conclusion would be that Lamar Smith's organization did improperly use my image. So according to the SOPA bill, should it pass, maybe I could petition the court to take action against www.texansforlamarsmith.com."

Read on at VICE

http://www.vice.com/read/lamar-smith-sopa-copyright-whoops

Just goes to show that the lawmakers have NO IDEA what the scope of this bill entails.

If someone has the time we should write up a letter to this congressman about his background image and how it will violate his stupid law if it passses, Then we can all email him the letter,

Well, that's just it. Someone realized they better check to make sure they weren't violating any copyrights, and redesigned his webpage. The image pulled showing they did violate a copyright, has been pulled down. They used the Wayback Machine to check his older design and found the copyrighted image.

That's just messed up...

Yeah I re read the artcile and saw that. I still wrote a letter expressing my opinion.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/under-voter-pressure-members-of-congress-backpedal-on-sopa.ars

It's a smokescreen while they all double check their websites for copyrighted images and assets. lol

First order of business when they reconvene, will be to dismantle the Wayback Machine. >)