Artist drew a portrait of my adopted son and won't remove it from social media?

[giddyuproo]

Hello,

No idea if I am being unreasonable here... I paid an artist to do a portrait drawing of my son (who is adopted and for safety reasons cannot have any public photos, etc.) the artist posted the finished artwork with the photo reference she used.

I asked if she would please remove it and she says no and that she has every right to post it and needs to for her portfolio...

I don't really know what to do here. Is this true? Can she just use them? :/

Thanks

Distance that doesn't seem to be what all the legal analysis suggests. The issue with photos isn't that a human could recognize the face, but that encoded within a photo of an individual's face is, effectively, a unique identifying number that any other photo of their face will also hold. A portrait will not hold this data and so could not be automatically associated with other images and records of the person.

boomboom the issue with photos is categorically not the "sophistication of biometric analysis" although where biometric data is extracted then this would bring data within the category of "sensitive".

GDPR relates to any personal data that relates to an identifiable person. The definition is broad and any images that allow directly or indirectly the identification of a natural person would fall within the scope of the Act.

Highlights A drawing or portrait of someone is almost never as identifiable as the person who already knows who it's supposed to be of thinks. I've said consulting a lawyer would be wiser than listening to people on some forum on the Internet and generally I think that's good advice, but If it's "categorical" you'll be able to cite the bit of law that states that all images are always covered, right?

boomboom

Article 4 is extremely broad and specifically relates to "any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’)".

That's fairly categorical. As time passes there may be further guidance and case law on what falls within the scope of "identifiable data" but as of now the definition is "any data..."

The ICO is fairly helpful and you can call them directly, they also have an online chat function on their website. However this is all somewhat moot since she also has a photo of your son.

BoomBoomsCousin: from the GDPR.

“‘[P]ersonal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’).”

“[A]n identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.”

I think a recognisable portrait counts as "factors specific to the physical and physiological identity of that natural person".

As this website (www.itgovernance.eu/blog/en/the-gdpr-what-exactly-is-personal-data) puts it:

The qualifier ‘certain circumstances’ is worth highlighting, because whether information is considered personal data often comes down to the context in which data is collected.

In this case, the circumstances are particularly relevant: there is a real risk that the child may be identified by his bio relatives.

Call social services as it’s a SG issue

She is being awful. Truly- who puts a child at risk?

After it’s down I’d post her a terrible review

Have you got the contract you signed for the work? If it explicitly says she retains the copyright or the right to use the image then there's nothing legally you can do, however if she hasn't mentioned it then you could get legal advice

I think you need to attack it from every angle.

Report it to Facebook
Tell her under GDPR you do not give her permission to use the photo (assuming she has it next to the photo? It will be of less use without the comparison)
Ask your adoption SW if she would be prepared to phone up and bollock her

Did you get it sorted @giddyuproo ?