Internet images

July 3, 2020 12:12 PM

Laws pertinent to publishing photos of minors online?

Looking for statutes about this. Not pornographic images, just regular. Federal? State?

posted by falsedmitri to Law & Government (3 answers total)

I am assuming you are in the USA given your reference to a federal system. This is a statistically likely assumption at this website that I am comfortable making.

You may find this legal article interesting. However, I will note the conclusion: "no policy offers these children a way to address the conflict created when their parents decide to disclose personal information about them to the watchful eyes of the parents’ newsfeeds." In general, there are no specific privacy rights for photos of children online - whether or not children are relatives or unrelated.
posted by saeculorum at 12:25 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: - Yes, USA
- Parents are not the publishers (so to speak)
posted by falsedmitri at 2:47 PM on July 3, 2020

If used commercially (and the meaning of "commercially" varies from state to state), minors' photos are just as subject to right of publicity laws (which can also vary dramatically from state to state) as adults'. You could not, for instance, use a picture of a child in an ad for Bosco in New York without consent.

The person who took the picture will own copyright in it under most circumstances and would be able to bring an action for infringement under federal law if it was reproduced without consent (but subject to certain important defenses like fair use). Again, this is not dependent on the subject being a minor.

I don't know what your situation is so it's hard to answer the question meaningfully.
posted by praemunire at 3:04 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]