Flight attendant in legal action over viral photos
Staff Reporter 2012-10-09 11:25
A series of flight attendants' private photos have been leaked to a video-sharing website. (Internet photo)
A flight attendant with a penchant for photography been grounded for nine months after one netizen compiled photographs she took of her colleagues into a video and posted it online. Commenting on the images in the now public video, the flight attendant, surnamed Wang, said she had taken into consideration people's privacy and only taken photographs which did not reveal faces, according to the Chinese state-controlled People's Daily Online.
Ms Wang is known in both civil aviation and photography circles. One fellow web user compiled her work into a video entitled "Flight attendants' private photos", and uploaded it to the internet. Wang said she contacted the video-sharing site immediately asking administrators to delete the video who refused her request. Wang then reported the incident to the police, who, judging no criminal offence had occurred, suggested she file a civil suit. She is now mulling legal action against the uploader and the video-sharing site.
Wang claimed on Sept. 24 that the series of photos was taken over a five year period and she had signed an agreement with four colleagues consenting to formal publication of the photos in photography website Colors and Images Without Taboo. Wang says she did not foresee a problem. "I am too naive about the internet. As a result my photos were stolen by this internet user and used unilaterally, distorting the theme of my photo collection completely."
According to Wang, she served as a flight attendant for 15 years and in 2005 was recruited by Okay Airways. Her interest in amateur photography led her to record over five years the lives of flight attendants into a documentary piece "Tulips on the clouds." In March 2010, the well-known photography website held an online exhibition of 60 of Wang's selected works. In September the same year the accused compiled the two-minute video from among Wang's images and added captions such as "Crew meals not better than instant noodles" to the photos, titling the compilation "Flight attendant's diary and private photos leaked" before uploading it to Youku.com. The video shortly afterward went viral.
"The video site stole my photos and distorted my intention," Wang said. Okay Airways suspended her without pay for nine months following the incident. Wang has since filed a lawsuit against her employer seeking roughly 300,000 yuan (US$48,000) in compensation.
An Okay Airways representative argued that Wang's taking private photos of the company's flight attendants, and the images' subsequent wide online circulation, has brought mental anguish to the concerned flight attendants and the company's name into disrepute. Ms Wang has been grounded in an effort to comfort the other flight attendants, the representative said.
The company says they have had discussions with Wang on several occasions but she has refused to admit to any wrongdoing, leading to the decision to not renew her contract when it expired. "This is an internal staffing matter and Wang's alleged loss lacks any factual basis." The representative said.
