French Parents Face Fines, Lawsuits And Prison For Posting Pictures Of Their Own Children Online
from the bad-news-for-oversharers dept
As Techdirt reported recently, the controversial "right to be forgotten" -- actually more of a right to be de-linked in search engines -- is starting to spread around the world. But its spiritual home is definitely in Europe, where privacy concerns tend to outweigh other considerations, like freedom of speech, that are regarded as paramount elsewhere -- in the US, for example. Leading the charge in the EU is France, which has been pushing Google to de-link items even more widely. According to a report in The Telegraph, France's zeal in protecting everyone's privacy may turn out to have some rather unexpected consequences:
Under France's stringent privacy laws, parents could face penalties as severe as a year in prison and a fine of €45,000 [about $49,000] if convicted of publicising intimate details of the private lives of others -- including their children -- without their consent.
As if that weren't enough, French parents may also find themselves being sued by their own offspring for posting all those cute pictures of them when they were babies:
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."
Leaving aside the question of whether it's really appropriate for children to sue their own parents for this kind of thing, there is another important point here: the fact that people are posting intimate pictures of their family life online with no thought for the immediate or long-term consequences. There's little awareness that once something has been disseminated online it's very hard to remove it afterwards. The good news is that Facebook, at least, is aware of the problem, and working on a possible solution:
Grown-ups who sue their parents for breaching their right to privacy as children could obtain substantial compensation awards, according to French legal experts.Jay Parikh, a vice-president of Facebook, said the service was considering setting up a system to notify parents who put photographs of children online without restricting their privacy settings.
Even here, of course, there are issues to do with Facebook's use of facial recognition capabilities, which would presumably be needed in order to provide this new system. But a gentle reminder that posting pictures of your children for all the world to see might not be a really wise idea -- just before you publish -- seems like a reasonable approach. It's certainly better than fining you, suing you or throwing you in prison afterwards, when nothing can be done about it.
Mr Parikh said: "If I was putting online a photo of my kids playing in the park, and I accidentally shared it with everyone, the system could say: "Hey, wait a minute, this is a picture of your children. Usually you only send them to members of your family. Are you sure you want to do this?' "
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and +glynmoody on Google+
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: children, crime, france, parents, social media
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is the world we created, lawsuits over everything looking to get paid. We've already seen an adult child sue her parents to try to force them to pay for her college, and that case went on far to long. We create more expansive rights without limitations, never looking at how this never works out as intended because handling the details might make them loose media coverage.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
This isn't as ridiculous as it first comes off thanks to the ridiculous way dependency is handled with regards to the FAFSA.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
She's an adult. Her parents owe her NOTHING.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Solution is simple ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Unless they were naked. Then they go to prison.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Although...
Perhaps this is a way to squeeze Mom and Dad's estate. Sue them at the end of their life for all of the embarrassing photos, They pay the lawyers, loose their cases and have to pay the kids, lawyers kick back to the kids, mom and dad kick off before having to go to jail. It's like Win-Win-Win!
Inheritance taxes, another thing that gets solved by the "Right to be Forgotten"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Although...
The logic behind it is that France wants to prevent concentration of wealth transmitted from generation to generation, much like aristocracies in centuries past. France is a small country where billionaires can wield quite a bit of influence over everything...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Although...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wow
What a mess
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Fifth Republic has Fallen
If it weren't for the benevolence of the state who would protect the children?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Woot I am rich
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Woot I am rich
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Thought
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Thank God!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Consent...
And how is taking away and throwing the child's legal guardian into prison for a year (or fining them for a year's salary or greater) in anyway beneficial to the child?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"Where's your lawyer?"
"No need, your honor, I'm guilty as charged"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
From the Telegraph: "Some parents have been forced to remove naked pictures of babies or young children"
Well ok, but that's not even remotely the same issue as privacy. Maybe I'm missing something (or forgot to take my crazy pills) but I suspect something is being conflated here, and it's hard to tell if it's the French with their comedy lawmaking or The Telegraph desperately trying to be The Guardian.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Can we do this in the US too?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
That's funny 'cuz it's someone else...
Then we'll pay for your retirement at nineteen...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Incidentally, the French privacy laws were introduced as a reaction to the vicious press campaigns of the 1930s by right-wing media groups against left-wing (especially Jewish) politicians. We're not in that territory, and as far as I know, no-one has ever been imprisoned under these laws anyway.
Feeling better now?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Just saying.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]