Recently I came across my old college Facebook alumni page, so I took a look. Now here's the conundrum - they are posting old photographs of students and asking you to identify the individual students, this is all managed through a publicly open page. While this is all in good spirits and just a bit of harmless fun, having a laugh at dodgy hairstyles and reminiscing of days gone by, it begs the question, would you want your old school photo appearing on Facebook and is there anything you can actually do about it? Do you want your old school photo appearing on Social Media?
Online Photographs
Personally, I'd prefer not to see my photo appearing, even if it is just a bit of fun laughing at ridiculous hair styles, questionable outfits, and hideous jewelry. The part I'm really not comfortable with is, this is a publicly open page and anyone has the ability on Facebook to share a photograph with their Facebook friends, and so on.
I've worked hard to ensure my digital presence is not only professional, but all my images are consistent. It's not that I'm hiding anything, in fact, if you asked me I'd probably show you an old photo, but that's my choice. And incase your curious, here's one of me and my pal in Sydney approx 2001 (I'm on the left).
Related Article: 10,000 FREE photographs for your website!
I fought the law and law won
It seems the law around the legalities of posting pictures of other people online can be a little tricky. I put the question about historical school photographs to Ruth Carter, from Carter Law Firm, she told me... "It would depend on the situation but it’s possible that it’s perfectly legal. The fact that you’re in a photo doesn't necessarily give you any ability to control where it shows up online"
Want to know more? Check out this article by Ruth answering questions around posting images/photographs online. Its a very interesting topic, and is cause for a lot of debate. Have you experienced anything similar? I would be really interested to hear your story.
