{"id":12,"date":"2021-12-22T22:20:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T22:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.godefy.com\/?p=12"},"modified":"2022-04-08T01:21:46","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T01:21:46","slug":"news-anchor-suing-facebook-reddit-and-others-for-hosting-her-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.godefy.com\/news-anchor-suing-facebook-reddit-and-others-for-hosting-her-image\/","title":{"rendered":"News Anchor Suing Facebook, Reddit And Others For Hosting Her Image"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Karen Hepp<\/a>, a female news anchor for Fox 29 in Philadelphia, is claiming that an image of her has been sexualized and used in advertisements without her permission, and is suing websites including FaceBook and Reddit for damages in excess of $ 10 million. She also seeks a court order to force all sites listed in the lawsuit to immediately remove the photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lawsuit however may not be winnable. According to Adi Robertson of The Verge, under Section 230<\/a> of the Communications Decency Act, websites like this aren\u2019t generally responsible for content that\u2019s posted by their users. The posts on Reddit are clearly user-generated. Hepp could possibly sue the person who posted the photo, but she couldn\u2019t extend that liability to Reddit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hepp, who lives in Merion Station, says in the lawsuit she only learned her image was being used on these various websites after her co-workers at Fox 29 alerted her. She is suing the listed companies for breaking a Pennsylvania \u201cright of publicity\u201d law. This isn\u2019t and cannot be a copyright lawsuit, as she didn\u2019t take the photo. However the Pennsylvania law gives folks control of commercial use of their names and likenesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hepp says in the suit that she\u2019s not sure where the photo in question came from, but the suit suggests it was taken by security cameras in an unknown convenience store in New York,NY. The suit alleges that the photo was taken without her permission, but the website Legal Beagle<\/a> says in New York, you may videotape a subject without consent, unless they have some reasonable expectation of privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A convenience store checkout area with or without a posted sign warning of video recording, is not an area, such as a bathroom or changing room that would give users a legally defensible expectation of privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n