You're under arrest ... for wearing a T-shirt

Did you know that in Florida, a protest T-shirt might get you thrown in jail?

Sounds preposterous ... but Fla. Stat. § 540.08 makes the unauthorized commercial use of persons' names illegal ... and it adds a bonus provision, an extra fine, if the person or persons happen to be (or, in the case of deceased people, have been) members of the armed forces:

540.08 Unauthorized publication of name or likeness.--

(1) No person shall publish, print, display or otherwise publicly use for purposes of trade or for any commercial or advertising purpose the name, portrait, photograph, or other likeness of any natural person without the express written or oral consent to such use given by:

(a) Such person; or

(b) Any other person, firm or corporation authorized in writing by such person to license the commercial use of her or his name or likeness; or

(c) If such person is deceased, any person, firm or corporation authorized in writing to license the commercial use of her or his name or likeness, or if no person, firm or corporation is so authorized, then by any one from among a class composed of her or his surviving spouse and surviving children.

(2) In the event the consent required in subsection (1) is not obtained, the person whose name, portrait, photograph, or other likeness is so used, or any person, firm, or corporation authorized by such person in writing to license the commercial use of her or his name or likeness, or, if the person whose likeness is used is deceased, any person, firm, or corporation having the right to give such consent, as provided hereinabove, may bring an action to enjoin such unauthorized publication, printing, display or other public use, and to recover damages for any loss or injury sustained by reason thereof, including an amount which would have been a reasonable royalty, and punitive or exemplary damages.

(3) If a person uses the name, portrait, photograph, or other likeness of a member of the armed forces without obtaining the consent required in subsection (1) and such use is not subject to any exception listed in this section, a court may impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation in addition to the civil remedies contained in subsection (2). Each commercial transaction constitutes a violation under this section. As used in this section, the term "member of the armed forces" means an officer or enlisted member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States, the Florida National Guard, and the United States Reserve Forces, including any officer or enlisted member who died as a result of injuries sustained in the line of duty. ...

(emphasis added)

The statute goes on to exclude "news medi[a] or publication as part of any bona fide news report or presentation having a current and legitimate public interest," so at least we bloggers can focus our worry where it belongs: NSA, CIA, Secret Service ....

However, I've read the statute over and over again, and I don't see any exception for public figures akin to that requiring "actual malice" in order to sustain a defamation claim. Therefore, as an example, if you wear a T-shirt that bears the image of Drunky McStagger with the caption "War Criminal," you're breaking the law. Indeed, since such displays are illegal for 40 years after the subject's death, even a T-shirt I had 20 years ago, showing Richard Nixon with the caption "Nixon in '88: He's Tanned, Rested, and Ready" would be illegal today.

So why the super-special double secret punishment for using names of military personnel, living or dead? Well, that is quite intentional:

The "Bush Lied They Died" T-shirt was the first T-shirt ever produced by CarryaBigSticker. It evolved from a bumper sticker that included the names of 500 fallen troops and the words "Bush Lied." In June of 2005, we printed about 100 shirts similar to the Bush Lied They Died shirt shown above (but with only 1,693 names). Over the course of about a year, we sold them all.

We were not planning to print more shirts because the first batch sold slowly. We also knew it would be difficult to fit more names on a shirt. In early 2006, at the urging of certain family members who lost loved ones in Iraq, legislators in Oklahoma and Louisiana introduced legislation intended to stop the sale of the shirts. Federal legislation was introduced during the summer of 2006 to outlaw such products nationwide.

[...]

Louisiana and Oklahoma eventually both passed laws targeting the shirts. ... The Florida legislation (Chapter XXXIII, section 540.08) was passed in the summer of 2007. Generally, these laws prohibit using the names of fallen troops on certain types of products for sale without permission from their families. Florida's law goes further, prohibiting the use of anyone's name without permission on certain types of products. We continue to sell the shirts in all of the above states.

[...]

The proposed federal legislation would go even further. The bill introduced in the House, HR 269 says, "no person may knowingly use the name or image of a protected individual in connection with any merchandise, retail product, impersonation, solicitation, or commercial activity in a manner reasonably calculated to connect the protected individual with that individual's service in the armed forces."

In May of 2007, the sponsors of HR 269, Congressmen Dan Boren (D-Okla.) and Charles W. Boustany Jr. (R-La) announced in a press release that the House of Representatives had approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008. The amendment, Section 582, is similar in its effect to HR 269. The amendment is awaiting a vote in the Senate.

Welcome to the further evisceration of the First Amendment, brought to you by the batshit crazy wingnut-dominated Florida Legislature (and, perhaps soon, Congress).

How many more assaults can the Constitution take before it disintegrates completely? On the one hand, I'm appalled. On the other hand, given the Bush crime syndicate's Sherman-like destruction of law and precedent, I'm not the least bit surprised.