'My face is everywhere — and I never agreed to it': Canberrans speak out on duplicate image use

Sarah, a public servant who lives in the Gungahlin suburb of Harrison, noticed something unsettling in April. A photograph of her family — taken outside the National Arboretum Canberra in 2024 — had been lifted from her personal Instagram account and used without permission in a local community newsletter distributed to several hundred households. She had never been contacted. She had never consented. The image had simply been copied and republished.

She is not alone. Across Canberra, residents are describing similar experiences: personal photographs duplicated and circulated beyond their intended audiences, with little recourse and often no acknowledgment from whoever used them. The issue is drawing fresh attention as Sydney's record-breaking winter temperatures dominate national headlines and the federal government grapples with multiple policy fires — but for those affected here, the problem is immediate and personal.

A city of connected communities, a city of copied images

Canberra's tight-knit suburb structure — where community Facebook groups, local school newsletters and neighbourhood apps like Nextdoor serve hundreds of thousands of residents — creates particular conditions for images to travel fast and without oversight. The Belconnen Community Service, which operates across the Belconnen district in the ACT's north-west, has in recent months fielded informal complaints from clients about images being replicated across social platforms without consent, according to general information the organisation has posted on its community noticeboard.

The problem is not limited to social media. At least three local real estate agencies operating along Northbourne Avenue have, according to residents posting in public forums, used neighbourhood lifestyle photographs — images of Braddon cafes, Dickson markets and suburban streets — that were taken by private individuals and repurposed in marketing materials. Whether those uses were licensed or not is unclear in each case, and The Daily Canberra is not in a position to confirm specific agency conduct without documentation.

Marcus, a freelance photographer based in Braddon, says he discovered in March that four of his images of the City Walk precinct had appeared on a commercial website promoting local tourism. The site, he says, carried no attribution and provided no licensing fee. He estimates a standard commercial licence for each image would have been worth between $150 and $400 under industry rates set by the Australian Institute of Professional Photography. He has since filed a complaint with the Australian Copyright Council, which advises creators on infringement under the Copyright Act 1968.

What residents say needs to change

The frustration voiced by Canberra residents centres on two things: the ease with which images can be copied in the first place, and the absence of any clear, accessible process for getting them removed. Under the Copyright Act 1968, the creator of a photograph generally holds copyright from the moment the image is made — no registration required. But enforcing that right against a suburban Facebook administrator or a small local business is a different matter entirely.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, based in Canberra's CBD on Marcus Clarke Street, handles complaints related to privacy breaches under the Privacy Act 1988, but that legislation covers personal information rather than creative works. Residents say the gap between copyright law and privacy law leaves them without a single obvious place to turn.

ANU College of Law academics have previously written about this jurisdictional ambiguity in the context of Australian digital rights, though the university has not issued any specific statement on the community-level incidents described here.

For those affected, the practical advice from copyright specialists tends to be consistent: document the unauthorised use with screenshots and timestamps, send a written takedown request citing the Copyright Act 1968, and if that fails, contact the Australian Copyright Council on 1800 221 457 for guidance. The council offers free advice to individual creators and does not charge for initial consultations.

Sarah says she eventually got the newsletter publisher to remove her photograph after two emails over three weeks. The experience, she says, has changed how she shares anything online. Whether broader protections follow is a matter now filtering slowly toward the ACT Legislative Assembly, where at least one crossbench member has flagged digital rights as a priority issue for the remainder of the 2024–2028 parliamentary term.