Honey Moon Pictures Must Be Removed From Wife’s Facebook Page, Court Says

Honey Moon pictures are memories to last a lifetime. At least, more than 10 years.

An Italian court has instructed a woman to take down photos of her and her husband’s honey moon from her Facebook page, and may be also required to pay fines, reports CNet.

The photos of the honey moon were said to be non-explicit, just some pictures of the couple cuddling and kissing, from 10 years ago. When the wife initially posted the honey moon photos, her husband protested, then asked for the pictures to be removed. The wife steadfastly refused. So, the husband, seeming to think he had no other recourse, took her to court.

While he argued he did not give permission for the honey moon photos to be posted, her lawyer argued that “the use of social networks is now so advanced that we can consider a Facebook wall to be not unlike a private photo album.” The wife did say she only shared the photos with friends.

The judge, however, did not agree. The judge felt that privacy on the internet could not be guaranteed. To her horror the court found that the publication of a photo on the internet is “significantly worse” than any other form of publication because “privacy cannot be guaranteed by the user.”

The court found that the woman had broken Article 10 of the civil code and “certainly violated the right to privacy of her husband.” She also fell foul of legislation from 1941 which says that the portrait of a person cannot be displayed, reproduced or sold without the subject’s consent. The court also agreed that due to the wife’s posting of the honey moon photos, the husband did indeed suffer damage to his self-worth.

The decision was welcomed by the husband’s lawyer, Ciro Renino, who said: “It’s an unprecedented decision, which will provide a point of reference for Facebook users.”

One thing that did affect the wife’s case negatively was Facebook’s ever-changing privacy policy, which gives users the privacy of a small village. Essentially, everybody knows what you’re doing, unless you know how to change the settings within Facebook, and sometimes that is ineffective.

This ruling is being extolled as a harbinger at for Facebook users everywhere, if the laws backs such behavior. Whether that is true or not, only time will tell. The most ironic fact from this story is that, as of its release, the couple in question are still together, and still married.