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A Woman Is Suing Her Parents For Posting Embarrassing Childhood Photos To Facebook

Posted by msmash on from the know-your-rights dept.

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.

6 of 412 comments (clear)

  1. Good Lord... by jratcliffe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm trying to wrap my brain around a parent who says no to their child's request that photos of the child be taken down from the Internet. This isn't even an issue of good parenting, it's an issue of common courtesy!

    1. Re:Good Lord... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I suspect this issue goes far deeper than some nude baby photos. She probably is experiencing harassment from them on a nearly daily basis because they think that she is their property and they have souls made of shit. I can fully sympathize with eventually being fed up with this illegal, abusive treatment and deciding that there is nowhere else to turn but the law. Seriously. You don't seriously consider taking your parents to court as an adult if they were fair and good to you your whole childhood.

      It's much more likely the daughter is a hypersensitive, unsympathetic, thoughtless, self-absorbed twit.

      Disclaimer: I have a teenage daughter.

    2. Re:Good Lord... by jratcliffe · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

    3. Re:Good Lord... by bfpierce · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      You don't recognize there's a massive difference in scale there? I mean really?

      It's like you embraced the internet fully but didn't recognize that it's a completely different thing than the books on your shelves. Yours kids employers aren't going around looking at your bookshelves, they are looking at their social media if it's public.

      That's just for starters...

  2. Re:Childish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Both. The daughter suing her parents over this is absurd but the parents not removing them when it evidently upsets her this much is appalling.

  3. Re:Naked photos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Man, it's like nothing makes sense anymore! Naked girl on fire good, naked girl not on fire bad, how exactly are we deciding these things?!