Can you spell t-o-g-a p-a-r-t-y?
Case in vivid point from the magazine article:
A highly successful Ohio executive, now in his mid-40s, told his story on the condition of anonymity. It starts with a fraternity party some 25 years ago. The executive—then a student—imbibed too much and passed out. He remembered that much, no more, until he got a Facebook notification that, nearly a quarter century later, a friend had posted a photo of him in a drunken stupor from that fateful night.
“I call on clients. I cannot have them seeing me in that state,” he says.
So, what can a person do when an unflattering photo resurfaces? Facebook at least allows users to “untag” themselves, essentially deleting their names from the images. But the photos themselves will remain, and options stop there.
Jacqueline Lipton, a social media researcher at Case Western Reserve’s School of Law says this is because the photographer— not the subject—owns the copyright to a photo. That’s why services like Facebook do not respond favorably to complaints that are based on the contention that “I’m in that picture, so it’s my picture.”
The likely solution: Groveling, not going to court!
May 18, 2010