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Missouri Family's Christmas Card Photo Stolen for Czech Ad

by Warren Riddle on June 16, 2009 at 09:20 AM

Instances of personal photos being poached from the Web and used for nefarious purposes abound. Typically, those stories involve the dissemination of incriminating images, which are then used to implicate or embarrass the owner. Typically, anyway.

A Missouri family recently learned that a holiday photo had been plucked from the Web. But, instead of being used for shady purposes, the image was being displayed as an advertising tool in the Czech Republic. According to The Telegraph, Jeff and Danielle Smith, and their two children, originally used the photo as a Christmas card and posted it online for friends to see. Last month, one of those friends living in Prague happened to notice a blown-up version of the photo, displayed in a local grocery store's window. You can see the original photo here, and the Czech advertisement, here.

The store owner, who said he would happily apologize for using the photo as a promotional device, admitted to finding the image on the Web, but said he believed it to be computer-generated. Ms. Smith said she understands the mix-up, but will add an identifiable watermark to future uploaded photos -- sound advice for anyone.

While the outcome could have been much worse, this story still reminds us that anything posted online can and likely will be used by someone else. At least it was a great photo with everyone smiling, and not a completely humiliating or damaging shot. We've seen that far too many times. [From: The Telegraph, via SlashDot.com]

Tags: family, photos, piracy, privacy, top, watermark, weird

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