A campaign has been launched by paramedics to raise awareness of the harm caused by people taking and posting online photographs of road accidents and injured people.
There have also been reports that the authorities are cracking down on people who post such images on social media sites such as Twitter. One Saudi asked online: “Why do the authorities want to deprive us of the right to take photos of road accidents?” Another responded: “Would you want someone to take a picture of you when you were about to die?”
This is a controversial issue on Twitter nowadays. Some people want complete freedom to take pictures of anything and everything and to be able to express their opinion in whatever way they wish. Others want individual privacy to be respected. Taking pictures of an injured or dead person is a blatant infringement of people's right to privacy.
There are many countries in the world which are unable to end this type of infringement. I advise my readers to never repost or forward photographs of this nature when they receive them as this simply encourages people to continue posting such photos.
Unfortunately, some people who post photos of this nature cite religion to encourage others to forward them. Such people should be completely ignored because what they are encouraging people to do is unethical.
We should use modern technology in a positive way and support individuals or groups seeking to encourage respect for individual privacy.
The problem lies in the fact that those who use social media websites fail to realize that they could be sued, penalized and heavily fined for infringing upon the rights of others. Every one of us who has a large number of friends on social media should raise awareness about this.
