Despite much publicity and numerous judicial warnings, some people still do not understand that they are not entitled to post private and confidential information about others on the Internet. In one case, a man was hit hard in the pocket after uploading explicit images of his ex-girlfriend to a pornographic website.

Unbeknown to the woman – an actress and singer with a following amongst teenage girls – the man had, during their relationship, recorded them engaging in sexual activity. Some years after they parted, he posted six films on the Internet, some of which were tagged with her name. She did not discover what he had done until 19 months later when she was alerted to the posts by a friend.

Steps were taken to remove the films from the Internet, but the woman suffered such severe distress that she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had to undergo specialist therapy. She had received numerous comments and messages from fans who mistakenly believed that she had been intentionally involved in making pornographic films.

After legal proceeding were launched, the man admitted that his uploading of the films breached her human right to privacy as well as constituting breaches of confidence and misuse of private information. A settlement was reached whereby he agreed to pay substantial damages as well as her legal costs.