Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Responding to personal ads with picture(s)
There are websites where people post personal ads seeking responses, connections, and dates with other people. The person who posted the anonymous ad (they don't reveal their identity, so you don't know who they really are) requests that you send a picture of yourself - usually in the first e-mail response you send to them. I do not feel comfortable sending a picture of myself to a stranger becaue I do not know the person, never met them, or don't know what they will do with my picture. Can I send them a random picture of some other adult which I copy from some other website (such as a photo sharing website) so that they stop bugging me for a picture? I may be interested in meeting the person if I feel comfortable about it, but I don't feel comfortable sending any stranger my picture just because I am resonding to an anonymous personal ads posting and they want my picture. Am I doing anything wrong by sending them the picture I copied? I assume the person posting the ad is 18 or over since the website requires the person posting the ad to certify they are 18 years or older, so my expectation is that an adult recieves the picture. Is copyright infrignement the only real issue (if that) for the photo sent?

Asked on 11/21/08, 12:55 am

Michael Stone Law Offices of Michael B. Stone Toll Free 1-855-USE-MIKE

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Re: Responding to personal ads with picture(s)

1. The person on the other end is at least as ugly as you are.

2. The photo of the person on the other end is just as bogus as yours is.

Answered on 11/21/08, 1:35 am

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