Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Maine

There was a girl at school who made a slideshow on underage drinking for a school assignment and instead of using photos off google, took pictures of students drinking on facebook. She lightly blurred faces, but it is clear to everyone who these people are. I am in one of these photos. While there are no tagged pictures of me drinking on my facebook, it was present on someone elses page. Apparently the teacher wanted her to use students pictures and the teacher go to chose the most explicit ones. I am clearly upset along with at least 20 other students. It is my belief that what went on outside of school does not need to be brought in front of teachers. I know having photos on Facebook and underage drinking is wrong, and I did to my ability all I can do to get rid of the photos, but I feel like what the student and teacher did was defamation of character. Is there anything I can do? I do not believe that it is fair for my teachers and peers to lose respect for me because of this girls grade. Thank you for your time.


Asked on 2/23/10, 3:09 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Marchese Drummond & Drummond, LLP

Thank you for your inquiry. The short answer to your question is that I don't believe there is anything that you can do to stop the use of pictures that are on the Internet. By posting those pictures the other student hasn't not defamed your character. The law says that if someone has only stated the truth of the circumstances, then they have not committed defamation. If you framed your issue differently, we would be looking at whether she invaded your privacy by using photos off the Internet, and the answer to that question would be that she did not invade your privacy, as the website that held those photos is public. An individual has the opportunity to block access to certain things, on FaceBook. However, those photos were made available, and there was no privacy violation. There are other things that you can do as a result of this disclosure, and they all involve taking some positive steps to improve your image. Good luck.

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Answered on 3/01/10, 6:33 am


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