Parents Could Be Sued By Their Kids For Posting Pictures of Them On Facebook (theguardian.com)

Next time you share pictures of your children on Facebook, you will want to take their permission before doing that. French authorities have warned parents in France of fines of up to $50,000 and a year in prison for publishing intimate photos of their children on social media without permission. From a Guardian report: It's a development that could give pause for thought for many parents used to sharing details of their children's lives across social media. A 2015 study by internet company Nominet found parents in the UK post nearly 200 photos of their under fives online every year, meaning a child will feature in around 1,000 online photos before their fifth birthday. [...] "In a few years, children could easily take their parents to court for publishing photos of them when they were younger," Eric Delcroix, an expert on internet law and ethics, told Le Figaro. "Children at certain stages do not wish to be photographed or still less for those photos to be made public," he added.It may seem like an absurd law to many, but think about the potential consequences of putting a kid's picture on social media. Among others, we've seen plenty of pictures becoming meme on the web.

Comments

Really?

[fyngyrz]

Really? One wonders how a child would give permission in any manner that meant anything in a legal sense.

Perhaps the summary isn't presenting this clearly (what? WHAT?) but yes, it does seem pretty absurd.

Then again, the US certainly hasn't been slacking in stepping into the role of parental choice / decision-making.

Re:Really?

[angel'o'sphere]

Does not Parental Rights imply the granting of permissions (especially if the parent is the one who took and posted the photos. . . )
The courts, and common sense, think: it does not.

However your milage of "common sense" may vary :D

Re:Really?

[operagost]

I don't know about French law, but yes, here in the USA by definition a minor cannot consent to just about anything. Therefore, claiming that a parent needed their child's permission to post something is meaningless.

Re:Really?

[AmiMoJo]

They are simply pointing out that if you post embarrassing photos of your kids on Facebook the worst possible scenario is that they go viral and they end up hating you so much they sue you for damages and violation of privacy. It's unlikely but the law allows for it in extreme cases, where the child can show that they have been (psychologically) injured or lost money (e.g. was forced out of a job).

Basically they are just reminding everyone that the law applies to children too and parents should think before posting every moment of their little darling's life on Facebook.

Re:Really?

[bill_mcgonigle]

Therefore, claiming that a parent needed their child's permission to post something is meaningless.

Regardless of the legal code, the ethical reasoning is very muddled.

The most workable construction is that, while, yes, a child is born with inherent rights, the child is initially incapable of exercising those rights. Nobody says that a toddler should be free to head off to a rave downtown - it's expected that a parent will appropriately curtail the child's rights.

Over time, the parent(s), the custodian of those child's rights, will slowly cede the rights back to the child, as his brain matures. By time the child turns 18, he's legally recognized as an adult with full rights (excepting Prohibitionist nonsense).

The French here seek to punish a parent for exercising the rights over which he has moral custody, which is, in effect, exercising his own rights.

Sure, some parents will make bad choices, but most will not, and having a government suing parents for sharing pics of their kids is far, far, more dangerous to the society than the occasional lapse of judgement.

Re:Really?

[dwywit]

That makes me wonder: sue your own parents? Do they have liability insurance for this sort of thing? No? Then where will the money come from? YOUR OWN INHERITANCE, dumbass. So, you sue your parents broke, or nearly so, you get your inheritance early, good for you.

Now you'll have to spend it to maintain your parents in their old age, because they can't afford to live.

Or your brothers and sisters sue the crap out of you, because you caused them to lose their inheritance.

clean slate

[leomekenkamp]

I grew up in a world where the internet did not really exist for most people. My first direct contact with it was in 1989. This means I have had the opportunity (although at the time I was not fully aware of that) to influence what pieces of information about me were put online.

When I became a father it seemed only logical to extend this same opportunity to our offspring. And my girlfriend feels the same on this issue, so it is very difficult to find anything on our children online.

My hope is that they will see the value in this and abstain from putting things online that might work against them in their future life. Puberty for them is still some odd years in the future, so I hope there is time enough to get this into their firmware.

Re:clean slate

[PopeRatzo]

I grew up in a world where the internet did not really exist for most people. My first direct contact with it was in 1989.

You missed the best years of the Internet. After '86, it was all downhill.

Re:clean slate

[thegarbz]

When I became a father it seemed only logical to extend this same opportunity to our offspring. And my girlfriend feels the same on this issue, so it is very difficult to find anything on our children online.

Yeah? I grew up in a country where a rite of passage is the posting of deeply embarrassing pictures of the first 21st years of a person's life on their 21st birthday in front of as many friends and family members as possible. Strangely my generation grew up all right, but then we also were tough as cement. Ok, we weren't that tough but we weren't coddled little flowers who have to run off to their safe spaces every time the world hurt our delicate little feelings.

But hey, sue me. It's a sure fire way to see your future inheritance donated to a charity.

Re:clean slate

[jareth-0205]

I grew up in a country where a rite of passage is the posting of deeply embarrassing pictures of the first 21st years of a person's life on their 21st birthday in front of as many friends and family members as possible.

Yeah, but you wouldn't tolerate someone doing that to you now, would you? You value your privacy now, right? But anyone younger has to give up any control over their image because.... they're young and fuck'em?

The internet never forgets, it would be nice if parents took that into consideration when enforcing an online identity on their spawn. I got a friend-request from a friend's newborn the other day... *sigh*

You should pull the plug as Kuro5hin

[mewn]

Seriously, do you even read TFA ?

Under France’s stringent privacy laws, parents could face penalties as severe as a year in prison and a fine of €45,000 (£35,000) if convicted of publicising intimate details of the private lives of others — including their children – without their consent.
Eric Delcroix, an expert on internet law and ethics, said: “In a few years, children could easily take their parents to court for publishing photos of them when they were younger.”

This is rather different than your summary :

French authorities have warned parents in France of fines up to.....

He is a famous lawer arguing that this could happen, which is different than a formal statement from any official.

Sign a waiver

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

"Here son, I know you're only 2 years old but I need you to sign this waiver allowing me to upload your images and also grant me a perpetual, irrevocable, unlimited, worldwide, fully paid/sublicensable license to use, copy, perform, display, distribute, and make derivative works from this content."

Re:Sign a waiver

[Anonymous Coward]

Two year old Son: NO!

You can have some ice cream if you say yes... Problem solved.

Yeah right

[MightyDrunken]

If my children* tried to pull this off I would blackmail them with the threat to post some of the images I held back.

* Illusion of success with opposite sex created only for humour value.

Re:Wait, Wait, Now Hear This . . .

[Coisiche]

The moral here is never accept friend requests from family. Requests from work colleagues are also best left unaccepted.

Re:Wait, Wait, Now Hear This . . .

[KiloByte]

A safer option: firewall out any known Facebook IP ranges. Block any of their domains at DNS level. Use an extension like Request Policy to weed out other trackers you may not know are owned by Facebook.

Re: Wait, Wait, Now Hear This . . .

[BellyJelly]

Can't I do that with my hosts file? Can anyone on slashdot help me with that?