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A Woman Is Suing Her Parents For Posting Embarrassing Childhood Photos To Facebook
Earlier this year, we ran a story which talked about how a parent could be sued by their kids for posting their photos on Facebook. Over the past two years, we have seen several such cases, and now we have another one. From a report on NYMag:An 18-year-old woman in Carinthia, Austria, is suing her parents over the 500-odd childhood photos they've posted of her on Facebook without her consent. "They knew no shame and no limit and didn't care whether it was a picture of me sitting on the toilet or lying naked in my cot -- every stage was photographed and then made public," she told The Local, an English-language Austrian newspaper. She went on, "I'm tired of not being taken seriously by my parents," who, despite her requests, have refused to take the photos down. The woman's father reportedly believes he's in the right to post the pictures because he took them. But her lawyer is adamant that if he can prove the photos violated the woman's right to privacy, her parents could be forced to pay damages and legal fees.
Rules tend to be different when it's non sexualized photos of an infant. That's likely the case here.
Well the fact that she is now 18 legally she is an adult. While people mature at different rates, and many 18 year olds still have a lot of maturity problems. However the parents who should have more empathy should had listened to their child's concerns and take them down, and not use such a thing as some sort of power play. For this particular case seems out of hand.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I tell my kids tough shit, suck it all the time. It's called being a parent and caving into random whims about stupid stuff. I mean... what kind of parent says no to a kid who wants ice cream for dinner! They want it so they must have it!
Seriously... everyone has baby photos. We take photos of babies and post them on the internet. Before the internet we put them in books and then drug the books out whenever our kids brought home a significant other. Get over it. You were once a baby naked and covered in mud/spaghetti sauce and your parents took a picture. It probably even got taken in to work and is hanging up in a cube/office. That time you crapped your pants? Mom and Dad remember and will bring it up. Again. And Again. You'll probably do the same thing to your kids. Suck it up. Life is tough and not everyone likes you. It's my job to make sure you have the tools to make it, not be your friend.
I suppose it is possible that these 'embarrassing' childhood photos are not the typical spaghetti covered baby photos. But if that is the case, the parents probably belong in jail for other reasons.
I am a parent. I also have respect for my child (and for people in general), and their reasonable right to their privacy. If I posted an old picture of a friend from college, and that friend said "hey, I'd rather not have that on the Internet," I'd immediately take it down.
This isn't really about the photos per se.
To be bothered by something so ordinary is pathological, so ask yourselves, why is she so self conscious to be bothered by this ordinary thing.
There is actually a big clue in the story, the parents refused to take down the photos because the "father _owns_ them".
That shows a complete lack of empathy for ones own child is hugely narcissistic.
My parents would not see me or their grand children again if they post pictures of me on Facebook. It is not a hard rule to follow.
Actually, having a right does EXACTLY mean that it's right to do it.
What should she do? She obviously asked her parents to take them down, which they refused. The father still thinks he has the right to have those pictures up there (which he does not by the way, at least not according to Austrian law concerning "rights to your own picture" (text in German, sorry), the important part reads: Austrian Copyright ("Urheberrecht"), article 78, section 1: "Pictures or paintings of people may not be published or made public in any other form if it goes against legitimate interests of the people depicted or, in case they are deceased, against the legitimate interests of close relatives". Translation mine and not legally binding).
What exactly would you propose should she be doing? Put yourself in her boots: You're 18 and all your friends (and teachers, and that creepy neighbor that keeps looking at you in a not-so-funny way) can take a look at naked pictures of you. Pictures you never consented to when they were made, and you certainly did not consent to being published. What are you going to do?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
According to another newspaper (Berliner Morgenpost) this story might be a hoax. Suspeced reasons: There is a single source for this story (Austrian tabloid "Die ganze Woche"), the court cited in the article doesn't know anything about this case, her lawyer cited in this article doesn't know anything about this case, the newspaper that is the only source doesn't comment on inquiries at all and the people involved in the lawsuit can't be contacted directly because their identities are not known. All of this makes the chances this is made up pretty high.
Today's experiment