Personal privacy is now a bigger topic than ever before, and while it is protected under law to a certain extent, the internet has created a gaping hole in personal privacy that we can’t stop. Anyone in public may photograph you and put your image on the internet, and there is nothing you can do about it.

Personal information may be posted online about you, by anyone. Identity theft is a lucrative business these days, since just about all the information that would previously be hard to get hold of is now interceptable at many points in our day – passwords, PINs, codes, name, address, credit card information…

If you have had your privacy breached, contact Vanessa Ash for a free chat about your circumstances to see if we can help you.

     Laws (or a lack thereof) regarding photo and videos online that you should know about

1. There is no law that exists to prevent someone taking a photo or video of you in a public place, then uploading it to the internet.
2. If you are on private property, photo or video can still be taken of you from a public place, or other private property. So for example someone can stand on the footpath or in a neighbour’s yard and take videos of your children or you, right in front of you, then post them online, without having broken any laws.
3. A person cannot enter a privately-owned property without express permission. This means any video or photos taken after entering without permission can be the subject of legal action.
4. Some places require express permission before photos or video can be taken, for example in airports, museums, art galleries, and some sporting events.
5. If a company takes a photo or video for commercial purposes (like for an ad), and your identity is visible, your permission must be sought before they can use the image on the internet.
6. It is illegal to photograph sex or certain types of nudity without permission (and proper age of consent). Check out the sexting article for more information on this. If a person could reasonably believe that their genitals or breasts could not be filmed and if a person is engaged in a behaviour that they would reasonably not expect to be being watched, it is illegal to photograph or film them.This means stalking-like behaviour is illegal, as is live streaming of a person without their permission. A young man was arrested, for example, after he live-streamed himself having consensual sex with a teenage girl to his friends using Skype without the girl’s knowledge.
7. It is illegal to threaten to share private and/or illegally obtained material. Sharing it could be considered defamation. (Read more about defamation here.)

     Australian social media and internet laws
You have the legal right to ask for access to the personal information stored about you by Australian companies. You can also correct any information or have it de-identified or deleted if it is not useful. The problem here is that social media are most often not Australian-owned, so this process is impossible.

     Privacy invasion – the outcome

• We have the right to ask someone to take down any information, photos or messages that have been posted about us.
• If they do not, a website administrator can be contacted and a request made to remove it.
• If nothing is being done, you can contact Vanessa Ash for help in legal action to get some results.

Get sound legal advice from an experienced lawyer.