Q: Do people have a legal right to have yearbook pictures removed from an online database?
An ancestry site recently announced a searchable yearbook database. No permissions were given and they are somewhat profiting from hosting peoples faces who were minors at the time of the photos.
A:
Great question, there are so many issues to examine to determine the answer to this. Who owns the content? Is there an agreement in place? Or are the images in the public domain and thus free game? Start by asking the ancestry site to remove your image and information; there are state and federal regulators that have specific privacy regulations that you can easily find online. Also, these sites usually have a link hidden somewhere on their sites that explains the law and how to apply to have your information removed.
Recently I wrote an article about how these sites can be used to solve crimes by police and concerns surrounding privacy:
https://www.toronto-criminal-lawyer.co/2018/06/golden-state-killer-dna-sharing-evidentiary-issues-could-affect-you/
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