Illegal to post images?

[Beej]

Hi, I recently posted some images on a friend's website that were from a party that we had both attended. The site is only ever really used by our close group of friends (most of which were at the party) so I didn't think this would be a problem. However some of the photos that were posted showed some of the girls that we know kissing at the party. The girls in question were not happy about the images being posted and demanded that I removed the pictures as they had not given me their consent for them to be displayed on the site. The party was in a public restaurant and the girls were aware that people were taken photographs of the party, so do I legally have to remove the images and did I actually need thier consent to post the images on the website in the first place??

Thanks in Advance.

 

[NYClex]

Well, there is the common sense answer and the legal answer:

The common sense answer is: take the pictures off. If the girls don't feel comfortable with it you should be a gentleman and respect that.

The legal answer is, as always, not as short. It depends on the details, on why you posted those pictures, what is to be seen on them and so on. The law says this:

You are liable for invasion of privacy if the invasion would be highly offensive to the reasonable person. It is up to the courts to decide, what kind of conduct would be highly offensive to the reasonable person.

You are also liable if you publicize someone's foto for your own interests.