Eighteen Year Old Austrian Women Sues Parents for Posting Childhood Pictures On Social Media

In Austria, the parents of an 18-year-old women have been sued by their own daughter for what is usually considered the domain of adoring parents: posting childhood pictures. The woman claims that her parents have made her life miserable by posting 500 images on social media without her consent. However, that suggests that parents are not the owners of such pictures when children are still below the age of majority. For years, I have told my complaining children to save whatever grieves them for another chapter in their eventual book, Daddy Dearest.

The pictures include potty training and diaper changing. The woman insists “They knew no shame and no limit – and didn’t care whether it was a picture of me sitting on the toilet or lying naked in my cot – every stage was photographed and then made public.”

Actually the definition of a parent may be those without shame or limits when it comes to their children. The parents have 700 “friends”. The parents refused to delete the photos so their daughter sued them.

Now, as the father of four, I cannot hide who I would favor in this fight. However, does it seem reasonable to view childhood photos as an invasion of privacy? The parents took the photos of a child who was in their care.

The case could open up a new level of liability for doting parents.

What do you think?