top | item 46589603

(no title)

john-h-k | 1 month ago

> knowingly uses or infringes upon the use of and publishes ... an individual’s name, photograph ... without the individual’s prior consent ... and being reckless as to whether or not harm is caused to, the other person.

> [harm occurs when someone] seriously interferes with the other person’s peace and privacy or causes alarm or distress to the other person

This seems very widely worded. A newspaper publishing the name/image of a suspected criminal is definitely "publishing an individuals name, photograph", without their consent, and can quite clearly cause alarm or distress.

Without some exemption clauses added, this bill seems to basically ban using anyone's name/photograph/likeness in ANY context that criticises them; it will almost certainly conflict with ECHR's Article 10 on freedom of expression. However(!!) with a few exemptions it can be made much better. Even tying it to AI generated photos/voice/etc would help - most _genuine_ criticism and reporting can go without the use of AI, but a lot of the intentional harm and sexual harassment did not occur before AI. If they don't want to do that, adding some form of "exemption if the information was used in a non-libellous context" could also work.

discuss

order

allturtles|1 month ago

AFAICT this is the actual bill: https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/bill/2025/11/eng/in...

Your selective quoting is extremely misleading. The first section about publishing a name/photograph only applies in the context of "for purposes of advertising products, events, political activities, merchandise, goods, or services or for purposes of fundraising, solicitation of donations, purchases of products, merchandise, goods, or services or to influence elections or referenda." i.e. it's illegal to pretend someone is endorsing something they are not.

john-h-k|1 month ago

Sorry, the example I had in mind was a politician and I don't know why I forgot to add that to the comment, else I'd edit it in.

The point is that "to influence elections or referenda" is incredibly vague! Almost any reporting on a person involved in the election, or even related to it (reporting on someone who's group looking bad helps a party) can be construed as "influencing an election"

pessimizer|1 month ago

But the second paragraph doesn't have any of those specifics. It's just any algorithm (an actual ban on forbidden math), software, tool, technology, service, or device.

sollewitt|1 month ago

Your snipping is making it look broader than it is: you can’t misrepresent someone as being supportive of your product or cause, and you can’t distribute software that makes, or make yourself, likenesses of other people without their prior consent.

It doesn’t constrain what you do in contexts other than where you use someone’s likeness to misrepresent their position.

The harms are restricted to the scope above.

john-h-k|1 month ago

"or to influence elections or referenda" has quite a wide scope and was what concerned me. Publishing a political in a negative light absolutely could influence an election! But yes I should have included that part, not good by me, sorry.

pessimizer|1 month ago

Your second sentence directly contradicts your first sentence, and the substance of your post is only two sentences.

amiga386|1 month ago

So if I draw a caricature of a politician in Illustrator, then Adobe goes to prison?

What if I draw a caricature of my own friends, in Illustrator, without first getting their consent? Does Adobe go to prison?

What if I captioned my illustration with my friend saying "It's my round!" (which is misrepresenting their position because it's never their bloody round), would Adobe go to prison then?

Gormo|1 month ago

> Your snipping is making it look broader than it is: you can’t misrepresent someone as being supportive of your product or cause, and you can’t distribute software that makes, or make yourself, likenesses of other people without their prior consent.

This sounds like it would effectively ban photography in public places. Or at least ban the manufacture/sale of cameras or software that takes photos.

sallveburrpi|1 month ago

> A newspaper publishing the name/image of a suspected criminal is definitely "publishing an individuals name, photograph", without their consent, and can quite clearly cause alarm or distress.

Cherrypicking your example: Newspapers shouldn’t publish names or images of suspects, so to me this specific example would be a very good thing. Not sure (IANAL) but I think in my country this is illegal already

Otherwise I agree that it’s very ambitious wording

Amezarak|1 month ago

> Cherrypicking your example: Newspapers shouldn’t publish names or images of suspects, so to me this specific example would be a very good thing. Not sure (IANAL) but I think in my country this is illegal already

Why shouldn't they? Why shouldn't the government have to publicize the names and identities of people they arrest so we know they're not doing so illegitimately?

enragedcacti|1 month ago

Any time you are reading a law, especially one from another jurisdiction, you have to be very careful to consider that there may be terms with a legal or common law definition that you don't understand. In this case, "reckless" seems to be a well defined term with a fair amount of case law behind it. To my untrained eye it seems like a newspaper would be well within their rights to publish harmful information as long as they avoid "a conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk".

https://www.studocu.com/en-ie/document/university-college-du...

orwin|1 month ago

A newspaper publishing the name/image of a suspected criminal is definitely "publishing an individuals name, photograph", without their consent, and can quite clearly cause alarm or distress

If the suspected criminal isn't a public figure, it's a good thing, isn't it?

ninalanyon|1 month ago

In some European countries it's against the law to publish details of people who are merely accused.

JohnMakin|1 month ago

What if they are not guilty?

pjc50|1 month ago

If you've published it in a newspaper, now they're a public figure!