CORRECTION AND UPDATE: The story appears to have been a fake and the other case turned out to be well-written satire that I didn’t spot as satire because I stupidly forgot to explore the site. But as Kashmir Hill points out, the Austrian teen fake story raises some important privacy issues.
Original post:
Justin Huggler reports:
A woman in Austria is suing her parents to force them to remove childhood pictures of her from Facebook, in the first case of its kind in the country.
The 18-year-old woman, who has not been named under Austrian privacy laws, said the pictures were embarrassing and a violation of her privacy.
“They knew no shame and no limits,” she told Austria’s Heute newspaper. “They didn’t care if I was sitting on the toilet or lying naked in the cot, every moment was photographed and made public.”
Read more on The Telegraph.
Update: This case seems to be getting a lot of traction in global media. A similar case in the UK last year did not get as much attention, but I thought I would mention it here now that I’ve found it. In March, 2015, Cornish News reported that an unnamed teen had successfully sued his parents for uploading over 200 pictures of him online. The amount of the award might surprise you:
The judge awarded the teenager a quarter of a million pounds in compensation payable by the parents. The judge said “Looking at the photos it is clear that you have exploited your own child for Facebook likes! It’s disgraceful that you would do this to your own child! What’s next? Sell your granny?”