Facebook photos

kiwi99

I've recently done a charity event and the company I work for want to do a story on it in our newspaper - all good so far.

I've now found out that one of my friends on fb (we both work for the same company), has provide access to one of my albums so the company can select the photos they want to use for the story. This was done without my consent, I know they are a friend on FB, but my employers are not and I've not given permission to use any they want.

Where do I stand with this??
Thanks

redped

You own the copyright for the photos, so you have final say over how they are used. Having said that, the terms & conditions you accepted when joining facebook might give them a say whether FB can use the photos themselves (I know some sites do this), but that certainly doesn't give your employer the right to use them without your consent.

StaffsSW

You could try to go down the IP infringement route when they are published, but you need deep pockets for that as it's not the sort of thing that no-win-no-fee solictors would tackle.

Nothing you post on the internet is private. If you don't want it stolen/shared/taken/used inappropriately, then do not post it. Many people learn this the hard way.

But if it was a corporate charity event, and all parties involved were active participants in the event, why the problem about sharing the pictures? Just ask that they are credited to you when it goes to print.

redped

Just to add - did you actually take the photos yourself, or have you uploaded some photos someone else took? If the former, then you own the copyright; if the latter, it's up to the photographer to decide who can use them.

kiwi99

stevew8975 wrote: »

But if it was a corporate charity event, and all parties involved were active participants in the event, why the problem about sharing the pictures? Just ask that they are credited to you when it goes to print.

thanks for comments so far
just to confirm this was not a corporate event, it was something I did completely independent, they just want to use it as an example

browneyedbazzi

Are you concerned about the company using your photos without permission or about the friend showing your employer your facebook page without your consent?

If it's about use of the photos which you took then as mentioned above, you own the copyright and if they use the images without your permission then you could sue them

If the problem is your friend showing them your facebook page (and the employer looking/allowing themselves to see it) then I don't think there's anything you can do. You put things online and set privacy controls which allow people to see things - you should only give people permission to see something if you want them to see it and trust them not to show others who you wouldn't want to have the same access.

kiwi99

redped wrote: »

Just to add - did you actually take the photos yourself, or have you uploaded some photos someone else took? If the former, then you own the copyright; if the latter, it's up to the photographer to decide who can use them.

Thanks....I took all the photos

kiwi99

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

Are you concerned about the company using your photos without permission or about the friend showing your employer your facebook page without your consent?

It's a bit of both. I'm not happy that they've have been able to view all my photos and selected the ones THEY want without my permission and also I feel let down by my 'friend' for showing my employer my fb page in the first place (I've now changed the privacy settings to resolve this)

Thanks

browneyedbazzi

kiwi99 wrote: »

It's a bit of both. I'm not happy that they've have been able to view all my photos and selected the ones THEY want without my permission and also I feel let down by my 'friend' for showing my employer my fb page in the first place (I've now changed the privacy settings to resolve this)

Thanks

How much is it all worth to you? Is it something you're not happy about but can live with or is it something worth risking a lot of upset and possibly p*ssing off your employer about?

If you're a bit narked but can clench your teeth and get over it then that may be the best way forward. If not then your first step should be to talk to the person publishing the newsletter and tell them you don't want the photos used. If they don't agree not to use them then (and you still think it's worth a fight and expense) then you can either go to court for an injunction to prevent the publication or wait to see them published and then sue them for infringing your copyright.

kiwi99

yeah I definately don't want to make a big thing about this (its not worth it)

I'm going to point out that they have to get my permission first (copywrite thing) and then provide the photos I feel can be used and hopefully all will be happy.

It's the fact that they have already selected the pictures first I'm most annoyed about. Now I understand the copywrite I think I can get this one sorted.

Thanks for everyones comments (I love MSE for this sort of thing)

VitaK

It dosen't sound like anything worth escalating. Do let your company know, that they should have approached you before accessing a social-networking-platform, that could have contained sensitive information.