People screenshot other people’s posts for a variety of reasons. The goal is usually to increase engagement. Creating, recording, and sharing screenshots might be hugely important, but it may be illegal to share another person’s post or message without consent.
Learn everything you need to know about screenshots and sharing test messages without consent.
Sharing another person’s message or pictures can be illegal or legal in some situations, especially if it breaches copyright regulations or shares a conversation when participants have agreed to keep the chat private.
On the other hand, what you share determines whether it is illegal. Sharing text messages, for example, is not considered a private chat.
While sharing text messages without consent is not illegal, you should be aware that the regulations for data and the rules for phones are not the same.
Phone calls are held to a different standard than text messages. As the regulations differ, there are numerous laws governing the preservation of phone communications.
In many countries, it is illegal to record and share a phone conversation without the approval of all parties involved. In other countries, it is permitted for one party to record the call with the approval of at least one of the parties.
Is it illegal to screenshot text messages?
There are several factors that could determine if taking and sharing text messages is illegal or legal.
In general, taking and sharing screenshot of text messages is not considered illegal but what is important is the context and intent of taking the screenshot and also having them shared. If your aim is to violate someone’s privacy or malign someone then there is an issue because such an act could be seen as a breach of trust.
Take for an example, when you received a text message in your inbox from someone and you screenshot this message mostly for personal use then you aren’t breaking any law
On the other hand, if your intention was to screenshot the messages and then have the messages shared to other people or the public without seeking permission from the sender then there is an issue here because the law sees this act as a violation of privacy and you can be sued for such act.
Note: Before you share any private message you ought to first seek for permission from the sender before attempting to share it to third parties. This is the idea thing to do.
More also laws that regulate and that that specifically address any issue concerning screenshotting or sharing text messages are different from country to country so its best you understand what this laws says in your state.
In the UK it is illegal to screenshot and share messages or even image like Snapchat Under UK copyright law; in fact this act can put one in jail or behind the bar for good two years
If you must share, you should seek for the consent of the other party (the sender) otherwise the sender has every right to get you sued. For more clarification on this matter you can refer to Section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015
Sharing private messages without consent in US :
In the United States, Private Messages are meant to be confidential unless with the consent of the sender otherwise it is considered unethical, illegal and breach of trust
In the United States There are federal and state laws that specifically protect the privacy of electronic communications, including the Stored Communications Act (SCA) and
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)
With this laws in place, it is illegal for anyone to intercept or in any case disclose electronic communications without consent or authorization or unauthorized sharing of private messages without consent of the sender
Note: To avoid breaking the law, the right thing to do is to respect the privacy of others and if possible you seek to get clear permission from them before disclosing or sharing of their private messages
Sharing private messages without consent in Australia :
In Australia it is illegal to share private messages. If you don’t want to break the law you have to take permission from the sender first before sharing the message else you might be breaking Australia’s privacy law which consider text messages as private communication and thus it should be protected.
Generally, in Australia disclosing or divulging of someone’s private information is against the law, unless you first seek for the permission of the sender.
But what about if you are actually reporting an illegal activity?
In this scenario The law won’t consider it a crime but in all honesty even when reporting a crime that someone wrote about privately, it’s important to respect and protect the identity of the person that wrote about the crime
Can I sue someone who did screenshots of our conversations?
In general, when you are part of a conversation and also the conversation is actually not protected by any confidentiality agreement such as a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) etc, its not actually illegal to have these conversation screenshot and shared.
But what happens when the screenshot is shared by others and not you? Actually this is an invasion of privacy; On this ground, you have every right to sue whoever that invaded your privacy because your consent was not given.
It is worth noting that laws that spell out how information such as messages should be handled and distributed might not be the same in all states. Actually this laws vary by jurisdiction. If you want to seek a readdress as regards privacy inversion then i think you should consult your lawyer on best step to take .
Is it illegal to screenshot Facebook posts or conversations?
Generally it is not illegal for you to take a screenshot of someone else’s post on his Facebook page or wall but if this is a private conversation that was sent as message privately then making this post go public without the consent of the sender is not something that you should engage in.
Again taking screenshots and sharing of conversations that were sent privately to others without the consent of the sender is illegal.
As you follow Facebook’s terms and conditions, It is very necessary and important for you to respect people’s privacy. Always ask for permission before sharing someone’s post even if you get this post from their wall or page you might never tell if the post of message was meant for only friends and not for the entire public.
We all understand that there is a visibility settings that allow users restrict certain content or allow selected friends have access to them hence it won’t be nice if you go about making this post go viral except you seek for their permission.
Finally, Facebook has a policy that dictate how content should be use, and shared ; Facebook policy is against creating spam or any other activity that is considered illegal.
To be sure you are breaking no rules just simply ask for permission before using content that is not originally yours else Facebook might take action against your account or profile.
Is it illegal to screenshot pictures sent?
You can send screenshot of pictures if the pictures are not private pictures, copyright pictures and does not in any way causes harm, then nothing is wrong with that because you are not violating any rule.
But note that You cannot send someone’s naked picture (exposing any sensitive part of the body) sent to you privately except you are granted permission to do that.
References
https://lawstuffexplained.com/is-it-illegal-to-screenshot-text-messages/
https://exchange-inc.com/is-screenshotting-pictures-illegal
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/screenshotting-sharing-snapchat-messages-illegal-7646340