Stolen Picture

May 28, 2009 By 717 Comments

So, this is the price we pay for indulging in social media, I guess.

I am thrilled to have reconnected with so many friends on Facebook.  One of them sent me this message yesterday:

Alright, so how’s this for random: I’m in the car, taking my wife for a check up, pass by a new grocery store and notice that they have a picture of you, your husband and two kids on the store front window. Life size. I kid you not. Will take a photo of it later today and send….

What you don’t know from this message: this college friend lives in the CZECH REPUBLIC.

Clearly, my family did NOT take a picture for any advertisements – either here or abroad. And, clearly, whoever hijacked the picture assumed no one would recognize us so far away. Hmmmm…wrong. :)

I’ll admit, there is an element of flattery (I think) to the whole thing.  But still, there is something creepy about knowing our family picture was stolen from one of my sites. This picture has been on my blog, used as a Christmas card and put on a few Ning Networking sites. It is also on my Facebook page (which is one of the reasons Justin recognized us) but my FB page is open only to friends.

Perplexing.

Here is the real picture:

img_1053

And here is our modeling debut in Prague.

czech1jpeg1

czech3jpeg

According to my friend, Justin, the translation reads:  “We will prepare and deliver your requests in two business days.”

Thanks, Justin for letting me know!

Interesting.  Bizarre. Flattering, I suppose.  But quite creepy.

This picture was taken by a friend of mine, Gina Kelly.  She does give me the rights to the pictures she has taken – and has authorized me to use them on my site, etc.

Your thoughts?

Updated, Saturday, June 6th.  Based on the comments I’m seeing, I feel compelled to clarify a few things. 1) I am the author of this site – Danielle.  Not my husband.  Quite a few comments have been directed to him. 2) I take FULL responsibillity for posting this picture with the incorrect resolution (read: too high).  Clearly, I am not a professional photographer and should have made the resolution smaller and/or watermarked the picture. 3) I used the incorrect term in one of my comments – the photographer did sign a release for me to use the pictures, and certainly, this does not mean I ‘own’ them. 4) While the photographer certainly may sell some of her pictures as stock, she ALWAYS has the subjects sign a model release.  I didn’t sign one for this picture, but would have if she had asked. 5) I posted this story because I think it is INTERESTING – what are the chances a friend who see this ad thousands of miles away? AND because I was SURPRISED it happend. Like many of you commenting, I wasn’t aware pictures could be taken.  If this makes me naive, so be it.  Now I know. And, for the record, I will not stop using pictures of my family on my site – I will however, change the format. 6) I am grateful to the greatest percentage of people who have commented with very interesting thoughts.  However, if you are part of the smaller percentage who are commenting only to say that a member of my family (or all of us) are ugly, I won’t be approving the comment.  I won’t allow it on my site.  I imagine you understand.  Thanks for stopping by!

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  • Clive

    How weird – nearly as bad as Princess Di’s photo in the window of a shop in Vienna with a bubble saying “I swear by Damart”.
    And someone has just hijacked a pic of MY great great grandmother on our ancestry tree and put it on HIS -info from my cousin in NSW.
    As for the insults, the world is populated by millions of layabouts hunched over their monitors with nothing better to do(who me?)
    Greetings from sunny Dorset, England.

  • http://www.reignofthegirlchild.com Mommy B

    So which is more shocking…

    A)The fact that a family photo was used for commercial purposes in another country.

    OR

    B)The seriously nasty, accusatory, over-the-top comments left by some people on a funny story that you simply thought was interesting enough to share with your readers.

    Jeez, people. No need to pop a vessel. Chill out.

  • http://www.geodormedia.ro george

    The only solution I’m thinking of is low res photos. For a picture to be printed is needed at least 150dpi (for newspapers) or minimum 300dpi for catalogs and postcards or other materials at 1:1 scale. I mean if you want to print a letter sized picture, you’ll need a letter size picture at 300 dpi. If you put a large picture on the net I’ll bet someone will use it. But if you put a 600x400px or even 800px x 600px at 72 dpi… they will still use it but on the net. They will not be able to print it.

  • http://firsttimemama.com FTMama

    Hey, you’re on the BBC news website:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8094420.stm

  • http://www.storyofmylife.com/kristenk kristen kuhns

    I chuckled at this story – although if it were me regardless I’d be totally weirded out too – but how interesting it ended up on a billboard promoting things :) I guess all those models need to come from somewhere.

    I did want to take the chance to remind everyone that 1) yes, what you put on the internet is out there, and you cannot always control it; 2) think about what your great-great-grandchildren will be “googling” about you in the future – make sure you leave plenty of good stuff for them to find :) http://www.storyofmylife.com (this is what we focus on in our work, not just to plug, but because this is such an interesting topic and I wanted to draw this point forward!)

  • crystal

    When I get older I hope to be just as picture perfect…

    I have a friend who had a Family Christmas card laying around… I thought it was a Magazine pull out but it was really a card ! Ha…

  • Jodi

    I just saw your story on the news here in Virginia and it led me to your website. So just for that alone, i am thankful because I love it!

    Your family is beautiful and i think the story is amazing and bizarre. But i love that you are just playing it cool and commend you on that :-)

    It’s a great story and enjoy the new traffic to your site!

  • Ron

    Just saw your interview on Fox News. Proof is in the picture of the small, small world we live in! Being an extraordinary daddy, I have never heard of or been to your site. I did feel compelled to comment, however, in agreement with your husband’s comment. I also married up! Proof of a big, big God in this small, small world. I hope your lovely family enjoys knowing you have put a smile on many faces as you unknowingly smiled back at them.

  • Bran

    Wow the wonders of the internet. Guess the web really is world wide. Glad you found out, but I’d definitely take the whole thing as a complement, you’re fitting the image of advertising’s “perfect family” , and that’s something these days. Hope you’re all well. Got a nice looking bunch there.
    take care.

  • David

    Incredible story,beautiful family,something to talk about to friends,family and generations to come.
    Yeah,it is a little scary and understandable from your stand point but the flattery and so random “stardom” is great.It was not used with permission but I am glad for your family’s sake that it was not used for anything vile or disgusting in nature or demoralizing.Again,beautiful picture of your family and another great story to tell…
    A fan in Buffalo,
    David

  • Kerry

    As a graphic designer and art director, I have seen many inexperienced designers (and clients) try pull stuff off the internet to use in various advertising and collateral material. They just do a Google search and take what they like. Most of them just don’t get that you can’t just pull anything you want off the internet and use it. Some of them don’t care as it doesn’t cost them any money. The only other thing to look at is if your photographer put your picture onto a stock or micro stock photography site for people to purchase royalty-free artwork from.

  • Anon

    I think this is a lovely story. I don’t find it creepy and I think you should be flattered.

  • Joel Maart

    I don’t know what those idiots out there are saying bad about you. What happened to you could’ve just as easily happened to just about any other person, unless they’ve been living in a cave for the past decade. Don’t let them get you down!

  • http://NA Richard von Riesen

    I was responsible for a similar event, albeit in a low tech way back in 1977.

    I was photo editor of my prep school yearbook. In reviewing thousands of negatives and contact sheets in the dark room, I spotted a negative that looked great, but that one of my very experienced photographers had not turned in. It was the first exposure on the roll. Thinking we must have lost the photo, I reprinted it.

    It was a magnificent photo. Two of the most beautiful people in my class, one male, one female, arms around each other facing the camera with a stunning fall New England backdrop looking down into a valley. I also remember thinking that I was unaware that these two folks were in a relationship. Of course we used the photo.

    Flash forward several months later, and my photographer is reviewing completed and approved proof pages. (Enormously expensive to change approved proofs). He is startled when he sees his photo. Hey I didn’t submit this, I promised the two of them I would not use the photo, they really don’t like each other, but I needed them to hold that pose so that I could understand the depth of field with my new lens. My response was oh well, by the time the book is published, we will have both graduated, and we are not going to spend the money to have the proof modified.

    The yearbook came out in June 1976 after we graduated. The school admissions office, rummaging through the yearbook photos for inclusion in the new catalog, grabs this photo and reproduces it in the school catalog which comes out in September 1976. (It really was a great photo.)

    Flash forward again to Summer, 1977, I am now a college student living in France for the summer. One afternoon I grab the train from the French countryside to Paris, I am desperate to see a book, any book, written in English. The French, being the French, barely stock any English language books. I go to this enormous bookstore in Paris and I am directed to the most obscure corner of the store.

    As I try and decide which English book to read (all classics – gag), a subliminal image flashes accross my brain – something is familiar, what, why.

    And there it is, the 1977 edition of Barron’s Guide to Prep Schools (for all the ex-pats I guess) and right in the middle of the cover – the only photo – is that photograph (It really was a GREAT photo.)

    My advice, enjoy your 15 minutes of fame, and the fact that some Czech ad man thinks your family looks like a beautiful Czech family (which by the way it does). Go visit the Czech Republic, you can probably be on some shows there as well. The Czech’s are great people, Prague is wonderful. Treat this as a blessing and as an adventure rather than as somethng to get stressed about.

  • brian

    If your pic is on the net then why are you surpised it would end up somewhere else. Remove your pics if it bothers you that someone might post them. You should be happy to have exposure.

  • http://www.ipernity.com/home/23639?rev=31 Jon Searles

    Too many comments to read through here… I think maybe your best argument against the photo thief here is that they stole your friend’s work. That’s just as relevant as their stealing yours or anybody’s. If your friend didn’t put a creative commons license on it (which I assume she didn’t), then the stock company who passed it to Grazie clearly had no right to give it out. They shouldn’t have even had it in their inventory if it wasn’t theirs…you get the picture. I found a news article about your blog because I live in Prague myself, and although I didn’t see these ads up here, I immediately started to worry about my own photos, since I take a lot of them and put them on Flickr and iPernity. I do, however, post them in low res and put my copyright on them. Anyway….. I hope you don’t have any more trouble with these people. There are plenty of groups I could direct you to if you want me to…

  • Melinda O.

    I know you’ve posted updated requests in regards to this posting, but I am still in shock! Most of us will go through all these measures to make sure our privacy (profiles, photos, blogs) are private and being protected and lo-and-behold! You’re popping up in store front advertisements in other countries! I so concerned about my son’s photos being viewed by the wrong person, I’ll even sign out of my social networking to view my profile’s and make sure they are indeed private, but even then I’m not sure! I am so glad you’ve opened this to our eyes, because I myself would never imagine such a thing happening! They did infact STEAL your photos! I like your approach! You’re going to continue posting photos of your family, but you’re going to take different measure! *kudos* I think we can all learn something from this!

    God Bless~

  • JC

    “Life-size”, eh? You and your family must be quite large people. ;)

    Kidding aside, interesting story! I have to agree with others, though, that there’s no way that this ad could have been developed from your picture after simply being found on Facebook or the likes. Unless you uploaded a VERY large resolution version of this pic on your site, I’d definitely talk to your friend or her photography company (at least take a closer, investigative look). As someone pointed out, a very high res version of your family photo can/could be found via Google pic searching.

  • Carrie

    OMG I can’t believe this happened to you. I just read about your story on yahoo and stopped by your blog to see the ad. WOW! I too have a blog & facebook and now I will seriously think about what pictures I post. I hope that you are compensated for this. And one more thing… to all the people who think your family is “ugly” they are by far wrong. Your family is absolutely gorgeous & those kids would bring a smile to anyone’s face. No wonder they choose your family for their ad.

  • Je

    Oh. My. I’m simply astounded by two things. The amount of ignorance postulated as “fact” in these comments and the number of comments that are attacking the blogger, expressing such anger towards her. In what universe did she do something to deserve this?

    To clear up a few of things.

    There are two issues to the illegal use of the photos. To be used legally both the subjects AND the creator would have had to sign off on it. Neither has done so.

    The fallacy that if it’s on the internet it’s in the public domain. Wrong, unless it’s specifically provided with a creative commons or public domain type license, or unless you can prove the copyright has expired (which would make it very, very old), if you can see it or hear it on the net, assume it’s copyrighted because legally the odds are it is. Even family snapshots. Even blog posts. You don’t have to register the copyright or mark it copyrighted for this to be true according to international copyright law. I leave my car parked on the public street daily. Try stealing it. I don’t think the excuse “It was sitting right there in the open, out in public, no sign on it that someone owned it, what did they expect?” is going to keep you out of jail when you’re caught. If it’s not yours and/or you haven’t paid for it, don’t use it. That goes for stuff you see in a store, stuff you find on your neighbors lawn and stuff you find on the internet.

    It is THEFT. Images are legally intellectual “property” and can be “stolen”. There is the potential to recover damages. Whether or not the subjects or creator would ever see any recompense is a matter for lawyers to argue and judges to decide or litigants to settle. If either the subjects of the photo or its creator pursues the matter. IMHO The store owner needs to do more than just laugh about sending “a bottle of wine” if they were closer. He needs to offer to send a whole package of stuff. Even if the blogger and photographer don’t choose to sue, it’s the right thing to do, make every effort to compensate them for intentionally OR ignorantly using the image illegally. We all make mistakes, most of us expect to “make it right” when we realize those mistakes.

    The sad thing is, this is rampant in the photographic community. Including photographers stealing from OTHER photographers, words and photographs, assuming that since the one being stolen from is in another town or state or country they won’t be caught. As the blogger has found out, it’s a smaller world every day and many people DO watch out for each other.

    Oh, and for those who don’t understand why it’s “creepy”. Well, that particular use isn’t what most would think of as creepy, but the idea that someone might use it in another fashion or just the idea that it’s being used at all in a strange place without your knowledge can be creepy. You don’t have to agree with the creepiness label, you just have to respect why someone else might find it so.

    Good luck to you Danielle, hope you get enjoyment from many of the responses and let the idiot responses roll off. It truly is a small world and worth giggling over regardless of how you ultimately proceed!

  • michelle lester

    You have a beautiful family! Who knows how many of us have pictures out there… within our own country used unbeknownst to us. It’s happening.

  • TexasJoe

    It does not take much work in photoshop to enlarge a photo to even more than life like and still retail a very nice looking image. Unless you place a copyright on your image, there is no law that can help you. Unless it was used in a way that did harm to you, then be honored that you helped someone out. He did offer some wine for payment. And a word for the watermark. Better make it big enough and a copyright or it might get removed and the photo used anyway. Just my 2 cents worth. BTW: Nice photo.

  • http://Yahoo Saw it on Yahoo

    Well the kind of great thing about it is you’ve gotten all of these hits to your website from your picture being posted without your knowing or permission… if not anything…great exposure in a kind of creepy but hey, good way!

    Lesson for today – not all creepy things are bad! HA! such a corny joke but hey worth a try…

    Enjoy your day!

  • Alicia

    Your family is beautiful! I can definitely see why a store would use your faces to sell their products. I mean, you guys are gorgeous!

    The funny thing is, I was in Prague two weekends ago…wish I could have seen the ad in person just to say I saw it! I would sue the company though. They used your picture to sell their product/service without approval from you.

  • Xero

    the great thing is Legally you can sue them in a us court of law since all the sites you mentioned are US based what they have done is violate US copyright law

  • Jane

    I read about this story on Yahoo News, and found it fascinating, but not nearly as outrageous as most people who commented. Obviously, the issues of privacy and intellectual property are valid, and this could start a valuable dialogue on what and how we should post online.

    I’m a bit taken aback by the masses of people crying “lawsuit”, as Danielle does not strike me as the wealthy celebrity who has thousands of dollars to spend on an expensive lawsuit. America is such a litigious society that anyone with any kind of problem can sue if they have the money. Suing just for the hell of it is rightly called frivolous.

    However…

    I’m a more than a little baffled by all the comments to the effect of “this is just how they do things in Europe”. Can any of these posters honestly say that copyright and privacy violations do not happen in the United States? To use this story as a justification of the view that Europeans not being law-abiding is disgusting.

    In particular, Karl: the Czech Republic was never a part of the USSR. It was part of the Eastern Bloc, a group of countries allied with the USSR until 1989. People from these nations were, in fact, living under Soviet occupation, so calling them “part of the USSR” is quite insulting.

    And Eddie, the following statement, “And a lawsuit? Come on. They laugh at that kind of stuff in Eastern Europe” reeks of ignorance and xenophobia. By the way, the Czech Republic (like Hungary and Poland) is located in Central Europe, not Eastern (like Ukraine and Belorus).

    Before using this story as an excuse to bash Europe, the former Eastern Bloc or the Czech Republic in particular, I recommend that all posters brush up on their geography and European history. Then, perhaps, they won’t come off as the proverbial “ugly Americans”. The last time I checked, respecting other nations was not unpatriotic.

  • Nickie

    I don’t understand why people are so flabbergasted about this. I understand that blogs and photos and social websites are personal, but the internet is not. Personally, I do not have a facebook or myspace or blog, but I do know that several pictures of my family are on my friends’ and relatives’ websites/blogs/social net spaces. If we go to a church outing, birthday party, holiday gathering, school function, whatever, any picture that is taken has the potential of ending up on someone’s facebook/blog/website. My neighbor’s husband put their son’s school play on youtube and was asked to take it down because he didn’t get everyone’s permission. But there are probably hundreds or even thousands of other video clips just like it. It is the world we live in. Anyone who thinks privacy exists in the age of blogs/facebook/personal websites/youtube is just kidding themselves. But about the picture in Prague, I would take it as a compliment; not everyone has those model looks :)

  • Argente

    I saw it on the Yahoo news (headline)today and wow..
    The best family picture I have ever seen. The smiles . It is a treasure, worthy of keeping it in the vault. Good luck to the family.

  • http://blog.andrewcorp.com/ Andrew Moffit

    I’d be flattered and excited if I were in your place. There is a much greater potential for people to see your pictures on the internet than on some obscure storefront in Prague. If you don’t want your pictures to be seen, you may not want to post them at all (or mail them around to everyone you know). These days anything put on the internet could last until the end of time in some databank.

  • Candice (ga, usa)

    I never comment on blogs if I don’t know the person blogging, but I must to this one…

    Wow! Y’all are beautiful!
    My husband has always been against posting pics on the internet and uses this very reason, therefore I do not have a blog, Facebook, website, etc. However, I commend you for continuing your blog and posting pictures. I, like you, think it is a great way to keep in touch with friends near and far, lost and found. I agree and would have never thought of decreasing resolution, watermarking, etc.
    I am proud of you for “zipping up” your layers of skin. This has to be one of the most interesting stories I have come across in a while. Thank you for sharing it with the world. There are so many that need to see the real stories of what goes on in this world we live in. It’s not your fault. These people sending cowardly remarks your way need to grow up and see that your story is a learning experience for all, including you and your family.

  • Renee

    Well hey..you’re all celebrities now..hahah! I just read an article on this and had to visit your blog about it. The store owner who used your picture apparently said he thought it was computer generated..I’m pretty sure that’s his way of saying your family is just too cute to have been real..to me, that’s an awesome compliment!
    Thanks for sharing this and your kids are just adorable!
    =)

  • ChicagoDP

    That is quite an amazing story, but totally believable.

    However, for those posting about ‘contact a lawyer’ or “contact the State Department.” Come on! Clearly it was innocent…and even if it wasn’t, it’s not like the guy in Prague used it to sell some weird product.

    And, for those of you posting about ‘demanding money,’ you, too, are crazy. Again, the photo was in the public domain and the store owner found it somewhere and thought it was for public use (no copyright mark on it). It’s a cute photo–the family is good looking–but to demand money..Come on!

    Quit being so A)litigious and B) capitalist!

  • Charles E. Peterson

    Hoax

  • Emily

    Very interesting! I’ve never heard of anything like this before! They found a family beautiful and happy enough to sell their product. :)

  • http://mylastshredsofsanity.blogspot.com/ Shan @ Last Shreds Of Sanity

    Maybe they chose you picture because you make such a beautiful family? It is an awesome picture. To me you look like the “All-American Family” and the Czechs look more Anglo than ethnic anyway. Maybe that is why it was chosen?

    What freaks me out is that someone could just take our photos. I have resisted facebook, myspace etc for a long time. I have them now because I have a blog and want to promote it. I usually use an avatar for my pic or nothing at all, but have been criticised for not showing the real me/family. Well what happened to you and hearing of others whose children’s pics were copied and used on kiddie porn sites is exactly why I don’t do that very often.

    A good friend of mine just posted a video of her daughter this morning, who is 4 years old. While the video was adorable, I cringed because her daughter was not fully clothed and that will make the pervs take the innocent family videos and turn them into something horrific.

    I guess it’s all personal choice, but I get really creeped out about stuff like that or the possibility of it.

    By the way, how do you watermark a photo?

  • rfiufhiuf

    I bet the guy probably just searched google and typed in happy family and put it on the highest resolution. You would think he would just get photographers to take a family picture. Google come own. That’s kinda cool though I mean what are the odds? Not even in America let alone Czech—whatever it’s called.

  • http://www.prettypersonalgifts.com/ Janine

    Beautiful family and how crazy is that? It’s a great story. Similar thing happened to me but it was in the USA and was with permission, just didn’t expect to see life size photos of my kids out and about. I almost drove off the road when I saw them, but was thrilled. I think this is a great story and have no idea why people would leave idiotic comments about this.

  • sheila

    Your family is absolutely beautiful. How anyone could post nasty comments about you is beyond me. There are alot of jerks in this world and they are just jealous of what you have. They have nothing good going on in their lives and have to make everyone else as miserable as they are.

    What happened is kind of scary in a way but cool too. What are they chances of someone seeing that advertisement and knowing the people in it. Very strange.

    Maybe you could get some royalties out of this. :)

  • http://www.thedivinemissmommy.com Stacie Haight Connerty

    Holy crap! What a small world!!!

    BTW, you have the cutest family. I love the picture. Maybe I will use it this year for my family Christmas card. ;)

  • http://www.dianeschuller.com/blog Diane Schuller

    The other sad thing about this is that whoever helped themselves to your family photo got paid and likely got paid a nice tidy sum for that image. It’s unfortunate there are such unscrupulous people out there doing things like this.

  • Aaron

    Interesting story.

    Is it just me or is anyone else disturbed by the number of “sue happy” posters on here?

    I have an idea. Let’s all find ways to sue one another and that way we can all “get rich” from doing nothing…err wait, I mean by being victims.

    Great real people. No one was harmed here.

    I think it’s flattering that your picture was chosen.

  • Jaime

    I just read the story on yahoo and came to your blog from there. You put it perfect when you said “Interesting. Bizarre. Flattering, I suppose. But quite creepy” Wow… You do have a beautiful family, I can’t believe the nerve of some peoples comments.. Thanks for the eye opener lesson though!

  • Dorin V.

    You must know every you do and take responsibility of your acts.I understand that you family’s picture in a shop window can be quite disturbing,but again,this is the risk you take when uploading pictures to any social network on the internet.The owner of the shop should have payed an agency to provide a fool-proof photo under the company’s complete copyright. Still,this can be a little expensive,so they went the easy way.But let’s be honest,which of you people NEVER used internet-provided photos to do various things?The owner is somewhat guilty,but if you want to go further and press charges(a lot of people who want to get rich overnight if in your situation),it’s highly unlikely that you’ll win.All the good things.Bye

  • Donald Winston-Day

    Wow! I always knew there was great danger in having photos online, but I never thought of them being used in advertisements overseas.

    I can say that a good 35% of people with facebook accounts could never hope to run for public office, lol. Makes me think of taking my own pics down :/

  • http://www.the-mobile-factory.com Rick

    Hi Danielle, I’d like to order three T-shirts in small, medium, and large; 4 posters, a key-chain, two buttons, and a travel mug with your family portrait. Thanks!

  • Kathy Francis

    Thanks for sharing this story. I will definitely change the way I post my family photos on my Facebook page!

  • Anne

    What a funny story! I guess that’s the price you pay for having a beautiful family :) This is my first time visiting your blog, and I think it’s great!

  • Seattle Guy

    I feel bad for the grocery store. They didn’t know and now they have to spend more than a little to remove your photo and replace it with something else. Grocery stores aren’t cash cows.

  • http://lfamily5.wordpress.com D L

    Wow! You have a beautiful family and have made me ponder a few things about posting pics on the internet. What are the odds of having someone you know see this? What a great story for your family to share for generations!

    BTW- Ignore the idiots out there who cannot use kind words -didn’t they learn about that in kindergarten?

  • http://www.momdot.com trisha

    OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Danielle, you have just now made me paranoid mother #1
    on the internet.

    trisha
    momdot.com

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