8/9/2019 A Victim, Her Picture and Facebook, NYT, March 29. 2011

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March 29, 2011

A Victim, Her Picture and Facebook

By JIM DWYERThe truth, said Chrissy Criscitiello, is that she never gave a moments thought to the deal

she was making when she posted pictures on Faceook! "Theyre o# me and my #riendswhen we go out,$ Ms! Criscitiello said! "My sons graduation! My husands #amily

reunion! % vacation we went on to &ake 'allenpaupack!

"( never thought they would e ale to sell those pictures or give those pictures to

someone else!$

(n 2009, Ms! Criscitiello got a crashing introduction to the world o# intellectual property,

as the pictures and content on Faceook are called! )n March *0, her sister Caroline

'immer, 2+, was murdered in her apartment on taten (sland! % month later, a reporterwith The taten (sland %dvance called the #amily home with news that a picture o# her

dead ody had een posted on the Faceook page o# one Mark Musarella!

%s it turned out, Mr! Musarella, a retired police o##icer, was one o# the emergency

medical technicians who responded to the apartment when Ms! 'immers parentsdiscovered her ody and dialed 911! -e had taken at least one picture o# her, and then

uploaded it to his account! )ne o# his cyer#riends in#ormed the hospital where he

worked o# the picture, and he was immediately #ired!

"( went right on Faceook, ut y the time ( got there, his account had een deleted,$ Ms!Criscitiello, *., said!

The picture o# Caroline 'immer in death showed her a#ter she had een eaten andstrangled with an electric cord! The #amily reeled!

Faceook has rules that ar precisely these kinds o# pictures, ut they generally are

en#orced only when memers complain aout them, not through advance screening done

y the company! /hotos come in y the millions every month Faceook says its usersshare *0 illion pieces o# content every month! They also grant the company nearly

unlimited rights to use that data any way it wants!

% 199+ #ederal law, the Communications ecency %ct, gives online service providers

road protection #rom any responsiility #or what people say or do on their sites! (t isthought to e a cornerstone o# #ree speech on the 'e! (t also protected Faceook #romlegal responsiility #or the grotesue act o# Mr! Musarella, who ultimatelypleaded guilty

to o##icial misconduct!

(n the months a#ter Ms! 'immers death, her #amily hired a lawyer, 3avi 4atra, who

wanted to #ind out what had happened to the picture while it was visile on Faceook

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/jim_dwyer/index.html?inline=nyt-perhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-orghttp://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/12/10/ex-nyc-emt-admits-posting-corpse-photo-on-facebook/http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/12/10/ex-nyc-emt-admits-posting-corpse-photo-on-facebook/http://www.nytimes.com/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-orghttp://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/12/10/ex-nyc-emt-admits-posting-corpse-photo-on-facebook/http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/12/10/ex-nyc-emt-admits-posting-corpse-photo-on-facebook/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/jim_dwyer/index.html?inline=nyt-per

8/9/2019 A Victim, Her Picture and Facebook, NYT, March 29. 2011

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who had viewed or downloaded it and what had ecome o# it a#ter the medics account

was closed!

Mr! 4atra said he had asked a lawyer #or Faceook i# the picture still e5isted on a server

or was stored somewhere else! %ccording to Mr! 4atra, the lawyer replied6 "( cant

answer that! ( cant tell you how many places they put it! %ll ( can tell you is that its notavailale through the memer accounts!$

(n a letter to Mr! 4atra, Faceook said it would provide the 'immers with certain details

aout the activity on Mr! Musarellas account, ut only i# he 7 the very man who had

taken the picture o# the dead woman and posted it #or his world to see 7 signed a consent#orm! Faceook help#ully sent along a copy o# the standard #orm!

"They told us to get Mark Musarellas permission,$ Ms! Criscitiello said on Tuesday!

%s was widely reported, the 'immer #amily announced on Monday that it had #iled suitagainst Faceook! "'e are not suing Faceook #or money,$ Ms! Criscitiello said! "'ere

suing them to change things, so no other #amily memers o# a murdered person have toe5perience these things!$

% Faceook spokesman said Tuesday that the company was horri#ied y what had

happened with Ms! 'immers photo, and he promised that it did not keep any copies o#her picture in any o# its dataanks! The spokesman, 4arry chnitt, said that when a

photograph was deleted y a user, it was removed #rom all o# the companys servers

within 90 days!

'hy wasnt this told to the 'immer #amily8

"(t sounds like there may have een some miscommunication ack in 2009,$ Mr! chnittsaid! "(t was never our intention to suggest that we wouldnt cooperate! (n #act, weworked with authorities to convict the man who posted the photograph! 'ed e happy to

share the results o# our investigation with the parents i# they would like!$

They certainly would, said Chrissy Criscitiello! "veryone is all aout technology,$ she

said! "'hat aout morals8$

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/29/2011-03-29_facebook_sued_over_dead_vic_pix.htmlhttp://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/29/2011-03-29_facebook_sued_over_dead_vic_pix.htmlhttp://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/29/2011-03-29_facebook_sued_over_dead_vic_pix.htmlhttp://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/29/2011-03-29_facebook_sued_over_dead_vic_pix.html