From Tears To Hope - New Beginnings - Internet Protect Their Privacy Campaign

~ Protect Their Privacy Campaign ~
The advent of the Internet has seen a staggering growth in the potential for the freedom of speech and expression to people throughout the world.

Sadly, in some quarters, this same freedom is being abused and used irresponsibly as a smoke screen to communicate in a vulgar, profane, violent, and insulting manner.

One of the areas of abuse in the freedom of speech and expression that concerns us at from Tears To Hope is the publication of photographic and videographic images of the victims of crime on internet website galleries.

Dr. Alan Keyes, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, says in his book, Our Character, Our Future, 'Freedom requires that at the end of the day, we accept the constraint that is required....'

From Tears to Hope strongly believes that the publication of these images is an unacceptable intrusion into the privacy and dignity of victims of crime and subjects them to further unwarranted and unnecessary abuse.

While we understand that some of these images have been published with good intentions, such as public information warnings on law enforcement websites, some of these imagines have been published on websites interested only in garnering sensationalist attention for themselves. We urge the publishers of these images to refrain from posting these images that are highly damaging to the victims of crime and to immediately remove any images that they currently have published.

All we ask is that some respect is shown to the victims of crime.

To achieve these goals, FTTH-NB asks that if YOU see a website that has published these sorts of images, please write to them and urge them to remove the offending imagines from their site immediately. Only through such direct action will we ever see a beginning to the end of the pain that the posting of these imagines inflicts upon a victim.

In addition to fighting a direct campaign against the websites that post the photographs of victims of crimes, FTTH-NB would like for YOU to speak out in your own community, supporting our effort to curb the needless and hurtful publication of photographic evidence of the despicable acts that have been committed against the victims of crime.

In pending criminal cases, judges have the ability to literally "seal" evidence from public viewing if that evidence is deemed sensitive and if the public disclosure of such evidence would be harmful to another individual. Obviously, the publishing of the photographs of the victims of crimes would be harmful to any member of that victim's family. So let's fight to get these judges to start "sealing" this photographic and videographic evidence from the very beginning of the case.

How do we do that? Contact your local district attorney's office. Ask them if they have a policy whereby, upon immediate notification of a crime against a person, they move for a judge to seal all the photographic and videographic evidence that depict the victim. If not, lobby for them to institute such a policy. Explain to them how harmful it is for a family member to see their victimized family member's picture plastered on the internet or in the newspaper. Explain that public access to these photos shows a complete disregard and disrespect for the victim and their loved ones. Explain that the victims did not choose to be victims, so why exploit their misfortune by permitting photographic evidence of the crime to be accessible to the public.

What else can you do? Contact your local law enforcement agencies and find out if they have a policy concerning the use and dissemination of photographic evidence. If not, urge them to institute such a policy.

Finally, you could contact your local legislator, and ask them to look into the possibility of sponsoring a bill that would automatically seal any photographic or videographic evidence depicting the victim of a crime.

Please help us make those who have the power to fix the problem aware that there is a problem. And please help us push our public officials into action!

Inside a Photo

I awoke this morning inside a photo. I’m not sure how it happened. Imagine being able to see, but not move. Seeing out, but not in. The police officer looking at me doesn’t see my eyes watching his. He speaks. I hear him. I say a tentative hello, but he ignores me. I glance around the room. Hey, there’s my family huddled together, crying. I call to them. They seem not to notice I’m trapped over here. Gee, I hope my hair’s not a mess.

They place me in a plastic bag and then in a box with other stuff. I glance around. A glove, bloodied scissors, an eye, one of my favorite dresses soiled and torn, other photos I can’t quite make out. The lid closes. Darkness falls.

Bright lights awaken me. The officers are back with a person they address as District Attorney. “We’ll use this one,” the DA says, holding me up to the light, staring.

I say “hello” then, I shout it. They don’t hear.

“Yes, that is the best one.” The kind looking detective with sad eyes beside him answers. I’m laid aside.

I listen drowsily while they discuss a case, a crime scene. Words come through the haze of sleepiness. Raped. Sodomized. Tortured. Mutilated. Left naked.

Poor thing. I hope she’s resting now.

Before leaving the conference room, they put me back into the box. Peace.

Suddenly, a man to my left booms, “Clear the courtroom.”

From out front, I hear moans and grumbles and movement, and footfalls. A door closes. A bolt sounds. Then quiet.

The quiet doesn’t last. A familiar voice, the DA’s, comes from the darkened room, “What you are about to see will horrify and sicken you. But, you must see it first hand to grasp what this young woman went through at the hands of her murderer.”

The lights dim. I am placed on a glass surface. A light comes up blinding me momentarily as I hear intakes of breath, a moan, a hushed scream. When my eyes adjust, I look at the 16 jurors. They’re looking up at a large screen. Some of the women are crying openly. Some are taking deep breaths. All look repulsed, disgusted.

I have a look. The naked and mutilated body on the wall is grotesque. My scream goes unheard and my eyes close out the horror of the scene. I taste bile as I repeatedly swallow to keep from being sick.

Oh, my God! That poor girl.

Blissfully, the light in my eyes is switched off, and I’m placed away in the box, the lid closed. She fades from my mind as it drifts back to happy days and beautiful memories with my loved ones.

When I wake, I’ve been placed in a different box, much like a television. Wow! I can see out and into homes. This is amazing. I’m on the internet!

I hope my hair isn’t a mess.

I say “hello” again and again to the people coming in, but they only look at me and quickly leave. No one seems able to stay long. Most of them don’t come back.

But, there’s one man who returns. He sends his friends in, too. He seems fascinated, sitting there, staring. One day he moves in close enough so that I can look into his eyes. A mirror.

Oh, my God!

That poor girl!

Me.

But, not the me I was or am. Only a victim, laid out naked in death to horrify and repulse the strongest among you.

You say “how dare the man who did this”… while I wonder how dare the one who placed me here for you to gape at. How was that allowed and why? When did it become okay to use me as a hideous, repulsive thing. A freak show. When I died? Did my death make it okay to abuse me, thus? He did unimaginable things to me. But you, who placed me here like this – no matter your reasons – did worse.

Put this picture away. I don’t want to be remembered like this. I don’t want people to be sickened at the sight of me. I’m not just a victim.

Bring out my best shots. The ones where I’m happy, dancing, smiling, loving, laughing. That’s me. Show them these photos. Let me live in these images, here among you. Give me peace.

I’m not just a victim. Don’t keep me one.

Lynne Marien
July 2001 Why?
I have noticed that more and more you are able to find just about anything on the internet. What I find most disturbing are pictures of murder victims. Photos of them when and where they are found, in the process of moving their bodies, different angles, and the autopsy photos. These "murder" sites can be found readily by anyone.

Apparently some people find great interest in seeing the bodies of what once were vital living people in their most horrible moments.

Cheap thrills you say, vicarious and voyeuristic.

Yes, for some I suppose.

However, these were real people once, they have families that loved them. How awful for any of those families to stumble across one of these sites and find a close up in living color a photo of their loved one frozen in death.

We don't show their names, you say.

So what? You are victimizing these people in the most terrible way.

Do you really think a friend or family member wouldn't be able to recognize them?

Why do YOU think you have the right to gawk at their lifeless bodies?

You're not doing them any harm by looking?

Wrong, you have violated them and their families right to privacy.

Some of these pictures are of children or teenagers. How terrible for their parents to find that their children are being exploited all over again for the world to see. These pictures should be only used for what they were taken for, evidence for a trial and for identification.

After all of that is done these pictures should be sealed only to be opened by the courts for appeals or at the families discretion. Victimizing a murder victim all over again by plastering their moment in death to the world via the internet should be stopped.

If they must delve into murders of people they don't know then let them look at the pictures of the victim when they were alive and read about their cases. These photos show nothing but death, degradation and horror. It is an insult to the victim to show them.

Linda Purnhagen
July 2001