First, it was revenge porn websites that were attacked by victims of their actions. Once one person had spoken out, a stream of others came forward.

And that’s just what’s happening to Facebook.

A 14-year-old girl from Belfast has taken the social media platform to court over a nude picture of her, which was repeatedly shared on a “shame page” as an act of revenge.

Now other victims are seeking advice about whether they have grounds for legal action. This is according to media lawyer and senior partner at the law firm Johnsons, Paul Tweed:

A case like this risks opening the floodgates for other civil cases to be taken against Facebook and other social media sites. We’ve already seen an increase in the number of people calling to find out more. I can see it being a very real problem for all the social media sites going forward.

The girl’s case will likely be heard in the new year, as last week courts rejected Facebook’s attempt to have the claim thrown out.

Facebook’s lawyer claimed the company always removed the image when it was reported, but the girl’s representative is arguing that Facebook never permanently blocked it, although they had the means.

From The Guardian:

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, alleges misuse of private information, negligence and breach of the Data Protection Act by Facebook and is claiming damages. She is also taking legal action against the man who allegedly posted the picture.

Recent events have shown just how difficult it is for Facebook to navigate the precarious path between censorship and protection, openness and responsibility.

The Belfast case is also likely to shed light on the network’s use of “hash” technology, such as the Microsoft programme PhotoDNA, which enables users to scan the digital fingerprint of a photograph, and then – if necessary – prevent it from appearing on the site again.

Facebook currently actively scans every image uploaded on to the site, and uses PhotoDNA to block known child abuse images. Other potentially problematic images, such as those in revenge pornography cases, have to be reported and “reviewed” before they are taken down. But critics argue that if it has the technology to catch other photographs that cause distress, it should do more to protect users from repeated harassment.

While the biggest problem is that once images are uploaded to the site they can be copied, downloaded, and subsequently shared however many times over, the real issue is that revenge pages are allowed to exist, encouraging people to share images and send victims messages of hate.

The next battle is to allow victims to remain anonymous when taking the matter to court, as revenge porn has not yet been recognised as sexual assault.

[source:theguardian]