Ignoring the call for law reform: Is it time to expand the scope of protection for personal images uploaded on social networks?

Ignoring the call for law reform: Is it time to expand the scope of protection for personal images uploaded on social networks?

Social networks have changed the way in which people communicate, in particular the way that images are uploaded and shared online. While there are many benefits for the use of social networks, uploading personal images online are prone to misuse. This is highlighted with the Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica privacy breach, however the protection of personal images is limited and fragmented in Australia. There have been a number of calls for potential law reform for expanding the scope of legal protection under the common law however the law remains unchanged. This means that personal images that fall outside the scope of the current protection are bereft of protection and prone to misuse. This article examines whether the common law ought to be expanded to prevent the abuse of images that may not fall within the scope of a sensitive nature.

This article was first published by Thomson Reuters in Tort Law Review and should be cited as Eugenia Georgiades, Ignoring the call for law reform: Is it time to expand the scope of protection for personal images uploaded on social networks?, (2019) 26 Tort L Rev 166. For all subscription inquiries please phone, from Australia: 1300 304 195, from Overseas: +61 2 8587 7980 or online at https://www.thomsonreuters.com.au/en-au/contact.html. The official PDF version of this article can also be purchased separately from Thomson Reuters at http://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/journals/subscribe-or-purchase.