14 year old Irish girl is sueing Facebook because a naked picture of her was posted on the site?

[Master Disaster]

This one is very strange... 

 

A 14 year old girl from Northern Ireland is sueing Facebook because a naked picture of her was posted to the site multiple times in a revenge attack. Obviously due to her age she cannot be named but her lawyer claims Facebook should have actively blocked the image after its first publication. 

Quote

A 14-year-old Northern Ireland girl is suing Facebook after a naked photograph of her was posted on the site.

Lawyers for the child claim the picture was blackmailed from her and repeatedly published online as a form of revenge.

The girl is taking legal action against Facebook and the man who posted the photo in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the world.

At a hearing in the High Court in Belfast, a barrister for the girl said the picture was put on a "shame" page.

He said that blocking its re-publication should have been a "red-line" issue for the company.

"A naked 14-year-old picture was being put on a shame page," the barrister told the High Court in Belfast.

"If they had blocked it all this subsequent publication of her naked image would not have taken place."

Of course Facebook want the case dismissed as they say they deleted the picture everytime it was reported to them and other than that there's not much more they can do. 

Quote

But a lawyer for Facebook argued the claim for damages should be dismissed, saying the company always took down the picture when it was notified.

The girl, who cannot be identified, is seeking damages for misuse of private information, negligence and breach of the Data Protection Act.

The judge reserved his decision on an application to have the case halted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-37312890

 

You won't hear me say this very often but I agree with Facebook, if they deleted it as soon as they were notified then they did everything they could. What else is there to do exactly? 

 

This raises a few interesting questions though. 

 

1) Why does a naked image of a 14yo girl even exist? No I'm not stupid and I was that age once but why are kids not being educated on this very topic by parents and schools? 

2) Are Facebook responsible for images posted on their site by other people? 

 

Thoughts? 

[Mirdon]

Wtf, as much as I hate facebook, how could they be held accountable for this? They took it down as soon as it was reported, other than that, there really isn't anything they could've done.

[ace_cheaply]

Bless her heart, she's one of us muricans deep down.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Stop taking nudes, little girls!

[Misanthrope]

Facebook actually does actively tries to block nudity. I've witnessed it first hand. No the algorithm isn't perfect but the fact that it didn't catch it this particular shouldn't undermine their defense case too much.

[haloharry97]

9 minutes ago, VerticalDiscussions said:

Stop taking nudes, little girls!

I know right, It pisses me off when people get up set of leaked NUDES then WHY the fuck did you take some pictures of you naked.

[ShadowCaptain]

I'm sueing the Internet for all my nudes too... 

I mean erm 

[Master Disaster]

2 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

I'm sueing the Internet for all my nudes too... 

I mean erm 

I've seen them, they're pretty traumatising... 

 

 

 

[Oshino Shinobu]

3 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

1) Why does a naked image of a 14yo girl even exist? No I'm not stupid and I was that age once but why are kids not being educated on this very topic by parents and schools? 

2) Are Facebook responsible for images posted on their site by other people? 

1) The article claims the picture was "blackmailed" out of her. Whether that means she was blackmailed into taking the picture, or the picture already existed is unclear. Still, that is mostly irrelevant to the issue. Sure, it may be stupid (if we're assuming the picture already exists) for her to take such a picture, but it cannot be put down to negligence on the parent's or school's part. Things like that generally are taught, but it does not mean that everyone follows their education and does not account for other influences. 

 

We're all 14 at some point, but for me, that was over 7 years ago, where facebook was not a huge part of pretty much everyone's lives so the experiences and exposure to things cannot be compared to 14 year olds now. Considering the amount of exposure younger generations have to "adult" content and situations on sites like Facebook, there's undoubtedly a greater pressure on children to try to "grow up" quicker. I see this often with my 13 and 15 year old step-siblings. They act, talk and do things that I would personally consider way above what they should be doing at their age. They're constantly on social media, so I could easily believe that it has a massive impact on people's behaviour. 

 

Anyway, to the point: With the amount of sexual content and attitudes I see on social media (I have my step-siblings on Facebook, nothing weird) from people below the legal age of consent, I can understand why and how an image of a 14 year old would exist. Peer pressure is a strong thing, even without the use of social media. There's very little parents and schools can do to combat peer pressure. If you're 14 and all your friends are doing something, you're probably going to be influenced to do it as well, regardless of what your parents or school say. I experienced that first hand, as I started smoking at 14/15 because I wanted to hang out with friends who were doing it. Needless to say, my parents and school had taught us that smoking was bad (and illegal at that age), but it didn't stop us. I only just quit at 21, likely because I have things more important to do than "hang out" like I did at 14. 

 

2) I think it's a grey area. While the pictures aren't created or posted by Facebook, they are still being stored on their servers, so they share at least some responsibility for the images. They may have deleted the images when they were flagged, but that's simply not good enough when dealing with nude images of a minor. There are systems and tools available for image recognition and automated blocking. Tools that a massive (I believe the biggest image hosting site in existence) company like Facebook certainly has access to. Admittedly, these sorts of tools often block unrelated images as well, but if you ask me, having some normal images blocked by accident is much better than having nude images of a minor floating around. I don't believe Facebook did all they could to prevent the image from being posted. I'd assume they have a process for managing images and situations like this that is run past some lawyers to check if they've done enough to not get prosecuted. 

[ShadowCaptain]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

I've seen them, they're pretty traumatising... 

 

 

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I'll have you know that I am fucking fabulous 

[Doobeedoo]

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[Master Disaster]

4 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

1) The article claims the picture was "blackmailed" out of her. Whether that means she was blackmailed into taking the picture, or the picture already existed is unclear. Still, that is mostly irrelevant to the issue. Sure, it may be stupid (if we're assuming the picture already exists) for her to take such a picture, but it cannot be put down to negligence on the parent's or school's part. Things like that generally are taught, but it does not mean that everyone follows their education and does not account for other influences. 

 

We're all 14 at some point, but for me, that was over 7 years ago, where facebook was not a huge part of pretty much everyone's lives so the experiences and exposure to things cannot be compared to 14 year olds now. Considering the amount of exposure younger generations have to "adult" content and situations on sites like Facebook, there's undoubtedly a greater pressure on children to try to "grow up" quicker. I see this often with my 13 and 15 year old step-siblings. They act, talk and do things that I would personally consider way above what they should be doing at their age. They're constantly on social media, so I could easily believe that it has a massive impact on people's behaviour. 

 

Anyway, to the point: With the amount of sexual content and attitudes I see on social media (I have my step-siblings on Facebook, nothing weird) from people below the legal age of consent, I can understand why and how an image of a 14 year old would exist. Peer pressure is a strong thing, even without the use of social media. There's very little parents and schools can do to combat peer pressure. If you're 14 and all your friends are doing something, you're probably going to be influenced to do it as well, regardless of what your parents or school say. I experienced that first hand, as I started smoking at 14/15 because I wanted to hang out with friends who were doing it. Needless to say, my parents and school had taught us that smoking was bad (and illegal at that age), but it didn't stop us. I only just quit at 21, likely because I have things more important to do than "hang out" like I did at 14. 

 

2) I think it's a grey area. While the pictures aren't created or posted by Facebook, they are still being stored on their servers, so they share at least some responsibility for the images. They may have deleted the images when they were flagged, but that's simply not good enough when dealing with nude images of a minor. There are systems and tools available for image recognition and automated blocking. Tools that a massive (I believe the biggest image hosting site in existence) company like Facebook certainly has access to. Admittedly, these sorts of tools often block unrelated images as well, but if you ask me, having some normal images blocked by accident is much better than having nude images of a minor floating around. I don't believe Facebook did all they could to prevent the image from being posted. I'd assume they have a process for managing images and situations like this that is run past some lawyers to check if they've done enough to not get prosecuted. 

I certainly don't put it down to negligence on either the parents or schools but they should be doing more than they are to inform kids of the dangers this poses to them. 

 

True story, there was a 14 year old boy from England (unnamed) who took a cock shot and sent it to a girl he fancied (a little unorthodox imo), she decided to share it with some friends, they shared it etc etc. Eventually everyone in the school had this picture and the boy was ridiculed daily so he went and spoke to his teacher about it. Said teacher (with genuine intentions) informed the head who immediately started confiscating phones to find the picture. Once he found it he rang the police and had the boy arrested and prosecuted, the boy was expelled from school and was put on the national sex offenders register! 

 

They should be telling these teenagers these exact stories, a little bit of shock tactics in order to educate them on the dangers of taking nude pics while underage. I know teenagers rarely listen to advice which is why they should flat out, no holds barred tell them exactly what can and does happen in these situations. Trust me, no 14 tear old wants to be on the sex offenders list. 

[theninja35]

38 minutes ago, Mirdon said:

Wtf, as much as I hate facebook, how could they be held accountable for this? They took it down as soon as it was reported, other than that, there really isn't anything they could've done.

Well, Facebook could have and should have banned the man who was posting the images after he posted them. From what I've read, he posted them multiple times, and had Facebook banned him, it would have been contained to once or twice.

 

If anything, that man should also be arrested on counts of child pornography.

[Master Disaster]

Just now, theninja35 said:

Well, Facebook could have and should have banned the man who was posting the images after he posted them. From what I've read, he posted them multiple times, and had Facebook banned him, it would have been contained to once or twice.

 

If anything, that man should also be arrested on counts of child pornography.

Agreed on both counts tbh. The thing is though, what's stopping him from signing up again? Reboot your router, fresh ip, jobs a good un. 

[Primefoxer]

Well I wish her luck with her endeavours in sueing facebook..

[theninja35]

4 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Agreed on both counts tbh. The thing is though, what's stopping him from signing up again? Reboot your router, fresh ip, jobs a good un. 

I suppose then that is when you try to call law enforcement.

[Syntaxvgm]

41 minutes ago, ace_cheaply said:

Bless her heart, she's one of us muricans deep down.

are you saying all Americans seek litigation for everything? I'll sue you! 

[Oshino Shinobu]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

I certainly don't put it down to negligence on either the parents or schools but they should be doing more than they are to inform kids of the dangers this poses to them. 

 

True story, there was a 14 year old boy from England (unnamed) who took a cock shot and sent it to a girl he fancied (a little unorthodox imo), she decided to share it with some friends, they shared it etc etc. Eventually everyone in the school had this picture and the boy was ridiculed daily so he went and spoke to his teacher about it. Said teacher (with genuine intentions) informed the head who immediately started confiscating phones to find the picture. Once he found it he rang the police and had the boy arrested and prosecuted, the boy was expelled from school and was put on the national sex offenders register! 

 

They should be telling these teenagers these exact stories, a little bit of shock tactics in order to educate them on the dangers of taking nude pics while underage. I know teenagers rarely listen to advice which is why they should flat out, no holds barred tell them exactly what can and does happen in these situations. Trust me, no 14 tear old wants to be on the sex offenders list. 

There's an issue of people getting caught up in the moment as well, without really thinking of the consequences. At my first secondary school, a guy in my year frequently bullied in year 7 and 8 (about 11-13 years old). Some people ended up taking a picture of his penis and sending it to most of the girls in our year. Nothing really came of it, but it may be a different story if it happened now. Still, the people doing it definitely think it was a stupid thing to do now, but at that age, you're not thinking of the consequences. 

 

The thing is, teenagers know about these stories now days, but it simply doesn't stop it from happening. I'd agree that teenagers should be taught more about the sex offenders list and just how much it can affect someone's life. However, there is an issue with equality when it comes to sexual offenders and the attitude towards them. Without wanting to get too much into the gender equality arguments, it is much more likely for a male to be put on the sex offenders list for sending an unsolicited (or solicited, that later got posted as if it was not) than a female is, even if the circumstances are exactly the same, just the roles are reversed. 

 

By how much the sex offenders list can affect someone's life, I'd personally consider putting a minor on there as wrong. For many other crimes, they would not be considered old enough to be responsible for their actions, so it does seem a little unfair to affect the rest of someone's life due to them not thinking of the consequences (at an age where people are known for not thinking of consequences). Either way, there needs to be more focus on education in most of the world's justice systems. Right now, they seem to be overly focused on the punishment side of things and forget that the vast majority of criminals are going to be going back into society, so should be rehabilitated rather than just punished then sent away. 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

31 minutes ago, haloharry97 said:

I know right, It pisses me off when people get up set of leaked NUDES then WHY the fuck did you take some pictures of you naked.

Leaving aside that she's underage, because it is your freaking right to do so. Being pissed off at people complaining their nudes are being ilegally used it's like being pissed off at people complaining their cars were stolen. "Dude, why did you even bought a car?".

I find it analogous to this last question and answer:

 

 

 

[Mirdon]

19 minutes ago, theninja35 said:

Well, Facebook could have and should have banned the man who was posting the images after he posted them. From what I've read, he posted them multiple times, and had Facebook banned him, it would have been contained to once or twice.

 

If anything, that man should also be arrested on counts of child pornography.

Come on, do you really believe the guy would stop right there? He could've easily made new accounts or changed his ip.

[ThinkWithPortals]

Facebook took the photo down, what else is there to sue for?

 

Also, she shouldn't have taken the picture in the first place.

[theninja35]

19 minutes ago, Mirdon said:

Come on, do you really believe the guy would stop right there? He could've easily made new accounts or changed his ip.

Please refer to this.

37 minutes ago, theninja35 said:

I suppose then that is when you try to call law enforcement.

 

[ThinkWithPortals]

32 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

By how much the sex offenders list can affect someone's life, I'd personally consider putting a minor on there as wrong. For many other crimes, they would not be considered old enough to be responsible for their actions

IIRC the age in the UK at which you are able to be held responsible for your criminal actions is 10.

[Mirdon]

4 minutes ago, theninja35 said:

Please refer to this.

 

What? That's the girl's prerogative not Facebook's

[samcool55]

Well they should put the people that upload the pictures behind bars, not facebook...

 

I don't think facebook did anything wrong if they just took the picture down if it got reported.

It's like piracy, you need to take down the uploaders, not the website that hosts them.

 

That's the only way to efficiently and effectively stop the criminals imo O_o