Tuesday, June 05, 2007 9:14 PM
sandi
14 year old publishes self portrait on the Web; discovers it is being used as the cover art for a porn DVD without permission
Unfortunately the girl is in a bit of a pickle legally because you must be over the age of 18 to use the deviantArt service. DeviantArt also specifically excludes "minors" from being allowed to upload content. Of course that means that the DVD cover producers can probably disclaim knowledge that the model was not 18, but it doesn't excuse them from taking her photograph, removing the watermark, and using said photograph without permission.
This incident is, for me, as much a warning for the younger folk out there about the reality of "the internet" and how easily we can lose control of the content that we publish, as it is about deceitful behaviour by various parties.
Lara's story is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/larajade/513641346/
Digg article here:
http://digg.com/design/Underage_Photographer_s_Work_used_for_PORN
The original photograph as published by the original owner to Deviantart:
http://ic3.deviantart.com/fs11/i/2006/179/d/c/No_Easy_Way_Out_by_larafairie.jpg
The DVD cover in question - with watermark removed can be seen on Lara's site.
Filed under: Security, safety and privacy on the Internet, General stuff