Law Question

That is a toughy. Questions are how old is your daughter? What type of site is her pic on? Is she is a minor? Do you know who she shared these pics with? If she willingly shared pics with someone you may not have a lot of options. As we all know, any pic can be copied and used elsewhere. Whomever she shared the pic with might have shown it to someone then there you go, it is on the WWW. You may have a lot more ground to stand on with these questions but NOT if she is of legal age and shared the pic. It is a common mistake a lot of people make. Usually, once on the internet, it is there for good because is gets passed, copied, posted, etc. It gets out of control.

Contact the website administrator where the pics showed up on and let them know pics are stolen. This actually happened to me once. My pic was not nudity but very sensual and it was on a site advertising for something I am certainly not interested in. We contacted the website admin and it was gone within 12 hrs. We did threaten to have a lawyer stop the website as well. I am not so stubborn to know that the pic that was taken down of me might be somewhere else.

Now, ANY pic I have has a special code on it so IF it gets copied and posted anywhere else, it is coded and known that it is stolen.

I don't know what police can actually do UNLESS she is a minor. It is a whole new ballgame if she is a minor.

I hope something I said helps.

tf

call the police and discuss

Is your daughter a minor? If so, notify the web administrator/hosting service and they will come down immediately and then you can deal with the individual. Fortunately there are very serious criminal penalties backing you up.

Your daughter's age and how the individual got the pics (whether it was by deception or if she made them available) are going to play a big part in just how much you can effectively do about it.

I am so sorry about this. What a nightmare. It doesn't look like much can be legally done.

I asked an attorney at one of the best firms in the country who graduated magna cum laude from a top ten law school. He said this in response to your question, "What can be done?":

Not unless they are selling product with those photos--which I doubt is the case. It is not like you are going to have a "private picture session" advertisement for soap or something.

Everybody has publicity rights in their own person, so that I can't make "A. Gayle Brown's Brand Soap" or put a picture of you on the soap to suggest that you approve of the soap or something. This only really affects famous people, because not many people know who you are or would try to sell soap with your name/image/likeness/approval/etc.

The image itself, however, unconnected to the sale of goods, is just that--an image. It is a piece of art, or a photo for a newspaper, or whatever else you want it to be. That is how the papparazi (sp?) are able to legally ply their trade. It is annoying, but once they have your picture they can publish it however they please.

And so it is in this situation--except that publishing costs on the Internet are next to nothing.