Virgin Getting Slammed for Using Flickr Pic in Australia

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Thought I'd post this since it's a bit controversial. An American family has sued Australia's Virgin Mobile phone company, claiming it caused their teenage daughter grief and humiliation by plastering her photo on billboards and website advertisements without consent. The family of Alison Chang, who lives in Texas, says Virgin Mobile grabbed the picture from Flickr, Yahoo Inc.'s popular photo-sharing website, and also failed to credit by name the photographer who took the photo. The ad says "Free text virgin to virgin" at the bottom.

The picture of 16-year-old Chang flashing a peace sign was taken at an April church car wash by Alison's youth counsellor, who posted it that day on his Flickr page, according to Alison's brother, Damon. In the ad, Virgin Mobile printed one of its campaign slogans, "Dump your pen friend," over Alison's picture.

The experience damaged Alison's reputation and exposed her to ridicule from her peers and scrutiny from people who can now Google her, the family alleges in the lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday in state district court in Dallas, names Virgin Mobile USA, its Australian counterpart, and Creative Commons, a Massachusetts non-profit that licenses sharing of Flickr photos, as defendants.

The family accused the companies of libel and invasion of Chang's privacy. The suit seeks unspecified damages for Chang and the photographer, Justin Ho-Wee Wong.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Mobile USA said the company had nothing to do with the ads and had asked to be removed from the lawsuit stating the ads follow CC .

People who post photos on Flickr are asked how they want to license their attribution. The person who posted the photo of Chang chose a sharing license from Creative Commons that allows others to reuse work such as photos without violating copyright laws, if they credit the photographer and say where the photo was taken.