French parents 'could be jailed' and fined for posting children’s photos online
French parents 'could be jailed' for posting children’s
photos online
Parents could be sued by their grown-up children for
posting photos of their children on social networks, resulting in hefty fines
or imprisonment
By David Chazan, Paris 4:08PM GMT 01 Mar 2016
French parents are being warned to stop posting pictures
of children on social networks in case their offspring later sue them for
breaching their right to privacy or jeopardising their security.
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.”
Grown-ups who sue their parents for breaching their right
to privacy as children could obtain substantial compensation awards, according
to French legal experts.
Viviane Gelles, a lawyer specialising in internet-related
issues, said that under French law, “parents are responsible for protecting
images of their children.”
Mr Delcroix said: “We often criticise teenagers for their
online behaviour, but parents are no better.”
He argued that people should think about how their
children will feel later in life about images of them as infants or adolescents
being posted on Facebook or other social networks. “Children at certain stages
do not wish to be photographed or still less for those photos to be made
public,” he told Le Figaro newspaper.
The French police recently renewed warnings about the
danger of paedophiles targeting children after seeing family photographs
online. Some parents have been forced to remove naked pictures of babies or
young children from social networks.
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.
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?’”
The French Gendarmerie has placed a warning to parents on
its Facebook page: “Posting photos of your children on Facebook is not without
danger … Protect your children!”.
The Gendarmerie also advised parents to beware of ‘chain’
posts on Facebook with messages such as: ‘Are you proud of your children? If
so, post three pictures of your beautiful children on Facebook and get 10 of
your friends to do the same.’
The police fear that pictures of children may end up in
the hands of paedophiles or criminals who could use them for identity theft.
Many Facebook users find it annoying to be inundated with
pictures of their friends’ children. They will be relieved that the police are
now urging people to exercise caution.
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