An Open Letter to the Editor of Times of India

Dear Jaideep Bose,

I refer to the article you wrote that was published on Sunday (May 23, 2010) in the Bombay edition of The Sunday Times. The article also carried some pictures of the late Ms. Sujata Survase, who was an air hostess on the ill-fated Air India Express flight IX 812 that crashed in Mangalore on Saturday morning. On reading your article and especially on the publication of the pictures of Ms. Sujata Survase, I had some questions for you and was wondering if you could help me out with them:

1. You have credited Facebook for the pictures of Ms. Sujata Survase. Can you let me know which clause of the terms and conditions of Facebook requires you to take permission from Facebook for use of personal pictures of the users? If its not too much of a hassle, can you also please share the permission given to you by Facebook.

2. Does Facebook own the photos that have been uploaded by users on its website?

3. Are you required to seek any permission from the family members of Ms. Sujata Survase? Have you in fact sought any permission from the family members of late Ms. Sujata Survase? If yes, can you please share the same.

4. Since you work for a national newspaper I assume that that you would have adequate in house legal support. Can you please also get some clarity on who the ‘lawful owner’ of the photos uploaded by late Ms. Sujata Survase on Facebook?

5. I was wondering if you had acquainted yourself with the norms of journalistic conduct prescribed by the Press Council of India with specific reference to Clause 6 of these norms that deal with the Rights to Privacy. Here is the link to the same for your ready reference: http://presscouncil.nic.in/norms.htm

I am looking forward to hearing from you on the above. Please note that your response to these have a direct bearing on the reputation of your newspaper as a national newspaper or for that matter a newspaper at all.

Yours truly

Girish Mallya
@girishmallya (twitter handle)