Is it illegal to post a picture of someone without their permission? If I took a potentially embarrassing photo of someone and posted it on a social media site without the person’s permission, such as instagram, could that person take legal action against me? Also, would this be different if someone sent me the photo themselves, but still did not give me permission to share it? This is a situation / argument between two of my friends and I’m curious on what could happen.
Posting a photo does not require permission of the subject as long as the photo was taken lawfully (i.e. taken when the subject does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy). Did the subject have a reasonable expectation of privacy when the photo was taken? Some examples of photos taken when a subject has a reasonable expectation of privacy: A photo of someone standing in their bedroom in their underwear, taken from the yard outside looking through the window A photo of someone in a public bathroom, taken with a hidden camera in the bathroom Some examples of photos taken without a reasonable expectation of privacy: A photo of someone standing on a public street saying "You don't have my permission to photograph me" A photo of a friend in a friend's house, taken by another friend while at the house, assuming the photographer was not there unlawfully (i.e. was invited) A photo of another student in class/on campus at school/university, taken by someone lawfully at that place. The point is whether the person the photo was taken of could reasonably have expected privacy when the photo was taken. If a reasonable person wouldn't expect privacy in the same situation, then you had their permission to take the photo, and then whether or not it is lawful to post (i.e. publish) the photo without their permission becomes the question. So is it lawful to post the photo without the subject's permission? Assuming you took the photo lawfully (i.e. you took the photo with their permission), then you are free to post it (i.e. publish it). How about posting a photograph without the photographer's permission? If someone else took the photo and owns the copyright, you would need their permission or to purchase the copyright from them, otherwise you could be liable to them for civil damages, even more so if you could reasonably expect to profit from publishing the photo (including adsense revenue on a blog). It would be useful to know the circumstances of how the photo was taken and who owns the copyright for your specific example.
If you do not have permission to make and distribute reproductions of the work, then it is illegal to make and distribute reproductions of the work. US copyright law Indian copyright law
You tag the question with "criminal law", suggesting that by "illegal" you mean "is it a crime" -- that would depend on jurisdiction, but in the US or my state, it is not a crime. There are crimes that you could commit with such an account, but violating the TOS is not itself a crime. However, it is illegal, a breach of contract, as you can see from the TOS "You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission".
You have a contract - they have fulfilled their obligation (they paid you), if you do not fulfil their obligation (not to post it online) then you are in breach of the contract. Your obligation continues even if you gift the money back to them. If you breach the contract then they can sue you for the damage that they suffer. Presumably this would be damage to their reputation and for a public figure this could run into millions of dollars. In demanding additional money from them beyond what you are legally entitled to you are, at least, flirting with the crime of extortion/blackmail. This would not be a matter for them to sue you for, it would be a matter for the DA to prosecute if they chose to make a complaint. There doesn't seem to be a defamation issue here because you are not stating anything that isn't true. Now, the extent of the agreement appears to prohibit you posting it on the internet, however, the spirit of the agreement is that you will keep the information secret in all respects - that is likely how a court would look at it. Of course, if someone does steal the information from you then you haven't broken the agreement but you would probably have to prove that it was stolen when they sue you.
What is the legality of someone putting a virtual hot spot on your property without permission? I know we are in uncharted territory but how would this compare to setting up a contest that would require going on your property without permission? The existence of a game does not authorise entrance to private property, barring some agreement with the owner. That is - if it is trespassing without Pokemon Go (or, for that matter Ingress), then it is trespassing while playing them. That being said, the creators of the game are free to place their in-game targets anywhere they please, and it is hard to imagine a scenario where they would be liable for their users' actions, unless they have not taken reasonable steps to prevent their users from doing so - Niantic clearly instruct their users to respect the law and also, only require that their users be within a certain distance of these points, not actually be at them. Is it currently legal to say Go to person X house and touch a tree? If not, does the current law extend to augmented reality? Nope, unless it can be done without entering private property (which includes the airspace above the property, to some extent). And there are no special cases for augmented reality. Now, there is some possibility that if they create a private nuisance - by being too loud, or by otherwise interfering with the use of the property - owners of a property could bring a claim in tort against players for doing so - or charges for a public nuisance, when done in a public area.
I've found Google's filtering based on licence to not be very reliable, at least not reliable enough to trust from a practical legal perspective. Using a photo that you don't own the copyright to is a risk. You may be infringing copyright by doing so. The owner may eventually ask you to stop, or they may sue you for damages. Further, some copyright infringement is criminal 17 USC 506. In my opinion, it would be unwise to use a work commercially that you don't affirmatively know you have permission to use.
Is that extortion? false advertising? or in any way illegal? Not at all. The owner of the site is simply exercising his right as outlined in the terms and conditions from when the user signed up. And giving users an option for continued use of the site (that is, for him not to exercise a right of which they were always aware) does not constitute extortion.
You can always be sued, but truth is an absolute defense to libel. Your actions could be perceived in any way imaginable. What usually matters for legal purposes is how a "reasonable person" would perceive them. As an example, Pennsylvania's Megan's Law Website warns: Any person who uses the information contained herein to threaten, intimidate, or harass the registrant or their family, or who otherwise misuses this information, may be subject to criminal prosecution or civil liability. It further clarifies: Public access to information about registered sexual offenders is intended solely as a means of public protection, any other use prohibited.