The USA has the right of publicity, this is similar where a person has commercial rights over their name/image/likeness (For example; a fashion brand can't make

The USA has the right of publicity, this is similar where a person has commercial rights over their name/image/likeness (For example; a fashion brand can't make unauthorised advertisements or even social media posts about celebrities wearing their clothing). Editorial use exceptions tend to give the public the false idea that images of people are freely useable for any purpose - since they're easy to find and rarely contain licensing information. So while the photographer owns the copyright of a photo, they may not commercialise the photo without a release from the subject. The subject also can't be tricked out of their rights, so open ended waivers that contain text such as "every conceivable use of the image" are weaker than waivers that clearly outline the intended use. Those open ended waivers also can also be weak if the photographer had been using the images in one specific way for a long duration. There are some grey areas here, especially for NFTs - would selling the NFT be considered a mere transfer of copyright or would it be the commercialisation of the image? There would certainly be room for interpretation based on the content of the photograph and for the value it was sold. Additionally the new owner would still be bound to the subject's rights, so if those weren't properly conveyed with the sale that can also raise additional problems.