Photo Stealing

[boanon]

Hello,

If I post pictures of myself and family members online and someone else uses those photos to create fake personas (not impersonating myself or anyone else in my family but used as avatars to represent and imaginary person) is that a crime? I don't think it is because identity was stolen and I know there are copywrite laws but being that these pictures were not sold by the other person nor can I claim anyfinancial loss from any future plans of my own to sell these pictures that it is not criminal. Is there any law protecting people in situations like this? I don't think there is nor am I interested in pursuing anything, I am just curious.

Thanks!

 

[Michael Wechsler]

You hit a big nail on the head - you can go after them for copyright violation regardless of your financial intentions. You may also wish report them to the online service and file a police report and a claim with the federal government for identity theft. It depends upon how far you want to go with the latter. If someone stole my picture and used it to post, it would concern me.