My photo is on the internet with a bad person - what are my rights?

[bigpinkpants]

I am a shop manager and when my shop opened in the autumn a photo of myself and my staff was taken and sent to a local paper who put it on their online site with our full names and a brief story. It has since come to light that one of my colleagues who is on the photo is a very bad person (I will not expand on this to protect myself). I had no knowledge of what this person had done when the photo was taken. When this person is googled there are a couple of links to sites detailing this person's crimes and convictions, then a link to the press story with the photo of me and them standing there smiling, followed by more links to them and their crimes. I was never asked for permission to use this photo online, didn't know it would be sent to the local press and I didn't say any of the things I was claimed to have said. Ordinarily I wouldn't have minded, but now I want it removed as I do not want to be associated with this person and it upsets me and makes me feel uncomfortable and is causing me some distress. My employer will not remove the photo as they do not want to draw any attention to a possible story that would ensue. What are my rights here? I understand what my employer is saying, but what about me and my rights and feelings? I want this photo removing, full stop, but can I do this? Thank you to anyone who can advise.

[Unicant]

I'm afraid if you were in a public place and were aware you were being photographed and are fully clothed then there's not much you can do but keep asking. The photograph legally belongs to the photographer if it was taken in those circumstances. And if it was placed publicly online or on social media the press can use these photos without permission as the photos now belong to whatever social media site they were posted on etc..
So your best bet is to keep asking your employer to remove the photo and hope they eventually have compassion for you.

Please try and not be anxious tho.. just because you worked with this person isnt going to make anyone think anything negative about you... this could happen to anyone its not your fault this person turned out to do a terrible thing

[FinallyFluid]

The right to be forgotten "reflects the claim of an individual to have certain data deleted so that third persons can no longer trace them." It has been defined as "the right to silence on past events in life that are no longer occurring." The right to be forgotten leads to allowing individuals to have information, ...

[lljkk]

I think it would reflect better on OP to acknowledge that you are shocked and horrified that this person was working with you and you didn't realise their terrible character. Rather than try to 'hide' the fact they ever did. You're not responsible for their devious bad ways, only for what you do when you find out.

[bigpinkpants]

Thank you Unicant. The photo was taken on my phone by another member of staff, so i'm assuming it legally belongs to me. My manager had asked for one to be taken and forwarded to him to send on to 'comms' (I assumed for use in our internal bulletin). There was no mention about sharing the image with the local press. The image wasn't shared on social media before this story was published, but was submitted to the press by the comms department, along with our full names and a story containing statements that were allegedly quoted by myself (they weren't!).

I know that this isn't my fault, but just seeing this photo on the internet seriously makes my skin crawl and I'd rather know that it was gone.

[lljkk]

afaik how did company get your pic if you didn't grant permission to let them have it, that complicates "ownership". Comms teams often make up quotes for staff, but they should ask you first.

[prh47bridge]

The photo was taken on my phone by another member of staff, so i'm assuming it legally belongs to me

I'm afraid not. Copyright in a photo belongs to the photographer and is completely separate from ownership of the device used to take the photo.

This is not a copyright issue. It is a GDPR issue. The photo is the personal data of yourself and everyone else in it. If you withdraw your consent your employer should no longer use the photo but that won't affect its use by the press. The press have some exemptions from GDPR so I'm afraid all you can do is ask them to remove the photo from their website. You can't force them to remove it.

[RedHelenB]

Does that person still work for you?

[bigpinkpants]

"Does that person still work for you?"

No, thank goodness!

[VegetarianDeathCult]

Besides the photo, you say you never said ‘the things you were claimed to have said’ — do you mean a journalist made up quotes from you? About the criminal employee, or just about your shop?

[RedHelenB]

I think I'd put it at the back of my mind.They were an employee that you didn't appoint, I don't think anyone that stumbled across this would think any less of you.

[bigpinkpants]

Besides the photo, you say you never said ‘the things you were claimed to have said’ — do you mean a journalist made up quotes from you? About the criminal employee, or just about your shop?

No, the story and the photo was sent by our comms department. I have since been told that it's a pretty standard procedure, but I did not say any of the quotes I was claimed to have made. The story was about the shop opening. If I had been asked, I would in all liklihood have agreed to what I was quoted as saying, but I was never asked, did not know that it would happen, and the first I knew or saw of the story and photo was when I was looking at my local news online and stumbled upon it. So, no, the journalist didn't make up quotes from me, my company did.

[prh47bridge]

I'm afraid marketing/comms departments making up quotes is pretty standard. In my view it would have been good practice for them to have asked you to approve the quotes but, as you say you would probably have approved them, that isn't really an issue here.

It seems that your real problem is the press using this photo. As per my earlier post, you can't force them to stop. You can ask them but that is all.

I agree with others that people seeing this photo won't think less of you because of it.