Hello, and welcome to Unbox’s first installment of “Viral Fridays” where we feature weirder than usual tech and geek related news to cap out the week. This week, we’ll be posting two articles to launch the column.

The first oddball post this week focuses on an unusual case of “defamation” and/or “invasion of privacy” in Austria. An 18-year-old teenager is suing her parents for posting embarrassing baby pictures of her on social media.

The teen, a native of the Austrian state of Carinthia, claims that her parents have been “harassing” her since 2009 by posting all sorts of embarrassing infant photos on their social media pages. She claims that the pictures were posted without her consent, and were shared with her parents’ 700+ online buddies. That’s crazy embarrassing indeed!

Michael Rami, the teenager’s lawyer, notes that her parents have posted more than 500 photos of her on social media sites without her explicit consent. The lawyer believes that his client has a good chance of winning her assertion in the courtroom.

“They knew no shame and no limit – and did not care whether it was a picture of me sitting on the toilet or lying naked in my cot – every stage was photographed and then made public,” the teenager said during an interview with local media.

She told local correspondents that despite her pleas, her parents have refused to delete the incriminating photos, which forced her to take legal action. “I’m tired of not being taken seriously by my parents,” she added.

The teen’s father believes that they have the right to publish the photos, given that they were the ones who took them. The teen’s lawyer argues otherwise, noting that if it can be proven that the images have violated any of her rights, the parents stand to lose the suit. And with that, they might even be forced to pay money to their daughter.

The case is the first of its kind in Austria. According to the teen’s lawyer, similar cases abroad have been litigated through, and if favorable to her cause, the parents may indeed be forced to pay financial compensation for the damages and the legal costs as well.

As an example, in nearby France, anyone convicted of publishing and distributing images of another person without their consent can face up to one year in prison and a fine of up to 45,000 EUR (~Php 2,420,469). Ouch!

This law, according to the lawyer, would also apply to parents publishing photos of their children online.

Source: Mirror UK