I was sitting beside my daughter’s bed in the Pediatric Oncology Clinic when I found out. She’s in her eighth month of chemotherapy, with nineteen more to go. This week has been particularly brutal. We had rushed her to the hospital last night when she spiked a fever. Again.
Every small setback takes a toll, but she doesn’t let it keep her down for long. She’s tough. Tough and sweet and feisty, and a thousand unique qualities all her own. She is the joy of our life.
She also has Down Syndrome, a fact that seems to matter more to other people than it does to us. I often write about her on my little blog. Anecdotes and opinions, stories of our busy life for a small, but encouraging group of readers. I never refer to my children by name, and rarely post pictures of them. But once was all it took.
Her photo was stolen. A beautiful shot of her face – one of my favourites, posted on a stock photo website and distributed for free.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, it was stolen again by a Swiss bio-medical company named Genoma. On the front page of their website and a building sized banner in Spain: there’s her face, larger than life. My daughter has been made the poster child for a prenatal testing kit called Tranquility. As if she were a cautionary tale: don’t let this happen to you.
The campaign is so disparaging towards individuals with Down Syndrome that it incited an avalanche of complaints from concerned parents and disability rights activists in Spain. One parent is quoted in a local publication asking “what mother could allow her daughter to be photographed and used for this campaign?”*
Not me. Never. I would never have allowed this.
It was a fellow parent, one who also has a child with Down Syndrome, that recognized her picture from my blog and alerted us. I was stunned. The more we looked into it, the worse it got. To know that this happened infuriated me, but when I saw with my own eyes… her sweet face on that ugly banner, it broke my heart. While my girl courageously fights for her life, this company questions whether she has a life worth living.
How dare they?!
Prenatal testing will always be a hot-button topic for parents like us. Let’s be honest, with a 90-95% termination rate parental preparedness is not the primary goal of these tests. I find it morally reprehensible. But even that is beside the point – they had no right to exploit her to sell their product.
Why couldn’t a multinational corporation pay for their own publicity photo? Perhaps they couldn’t find a parent willing to put their child in this position. Perhaps they didn’t even bother looking. Why pay when you can just take?
We have contacted the company directly, firmly asking them to remove her picture. They have not responded. Her picture remains (update below).
I’ll admit, I felt guilty. That it was my fault. I put her picture online. I didn’t prep it for the web properly. I failed to protect her.
Until I realized, I did nothing wrong. They broke the law. This heartless company that used my daughter’s photo without our consent, or that of our photographer. Legally a copyright infringement, but also breaking what is referred to in copyright law as “moral law” since her image was used in a derogatory fashion. They insulted and abused my innocent child in their pursuit of profit. They broke faith with common human decency. And the world is watching.
What’s worse (for them), they angered this Mama Bear.
Where initially I considered taking all our photos offline, deleting my social media accounts and hiding in my house for the next 10 years, now I’m determined to weather the storm. We will not flinch. We will not hide. My daughter is beautiful and her life is worth celebrating.
*Article in La Razon – http://www.larazon.es/sociedad/anuncian-un-test-prenatal-con-la-imagen-de-una-nina-con-down-CE9978859#.Ttt1dKcnkmyPFp7
Update – at this time Genoma has removed our daughters photograph from their website. They’ve indicated a desire to apologize. While I do not believe their actions were intentionally malicious, in my opinion what happened was unethical and illegal. The onus is on them to adhere to copyright law, whether first or second hand, theft is theft. This isn’t some guy in his mother’s basement, this is a huge multinational, surely they have the resources to properly vet a publicity photo, particularly one of an innocent child being used in such a controversial way.
Dodgy Turkish German(?) “free image” website has still not responded or removed our daughter’s photo.
We are consulting a lawyer.
Further Update – the ‘down syndrome’ page of the stock photo website, including our picture and at least two other stolen photos has been… wait for it… SHUT DOWN! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the efforts of computer savvy strangers driven by no agenda of their own, only a desire to right a wrong.
We’ve reached a satisfactory agreement with Genoma, including their commitment to include information about Down Syndrome support organizations with their product.
So now what? – answering the “how can I help?” and “how is she doing?” questions. There are too many encouraging comments to address individually at this point in our life, just know that you are deeply appreciated.
So Here's Us... 
June 12th, 2015 at 1:06 am
Hey Christie, just sent an email. Bad days for you.
BUT: There are hundreds out there, here in Germany, in Spain, in Italy, the US, NZ, worldwide, which are talking about you, fighting for you and your daughter, and are willing to help as far as they can.
You do not walk alone. At least in mind, we are with you and your daughter.
Now on the picture. I am working as Creative Director, since 20 years. Many, many, many pictures went through my hands. And hopefully, I have been as clever in the past, that I did not kick other peoples feelings in the way it now happened to you. But things happen.
And when having looked at the picture of your daughter: The advertising agency had a good hand in choosing your daughters picture. Don’t get me wrong: I dislike the campaign, I signed the spanish petition, and I hate copyright infringement, and picture thiefs.
But aesthetically, your daughter looks awesome on the picture. She is cute, nice, and goodlooking. It would have been a very good picture for many other purposes, as it is appealing, heartwarming and standing for hundreds of positive thoughts which are connected with our kids. Especially those, which are equipped with some speciality.
Give her a big hug, and may the power be with you and your daughter.
June 14th, 2015 at 7:03 am
Thank you Chris!
June 12th, 2015 at 2:20 am
I’m so sorry this has happened to you, let us know the links to the petitions and I will happily sign them all, this is just disgusting that this happened.
Although it isn’t even slightly as the same scale as what happened to you, but a few years ago a penpal of mine in Switzerland sent me a link to a website called ‘scary santas’ where there was a compilation of photos of terrified children sitting on santas lap crying. Yes it was my daughter in there, for all the sick people who took pleasure in looking of photos of children squirm. It made me sick to my stomach that my innocent facebook photo was being exploited.
I can’t imagine your anger at the disgusting company who stole her precious face for such an evil,cause
Hugs to your family and please post petition links, take it to the media, write to the government. This is unacceptable.
I’ve seen her loving face in person, her gorgeous smile and warm heart, she is definately NOT a poster child for this sick company
Stay strong and roar loud, momma bear. We are all roaring along with you
June 14th, 2015 at 7:04 am
It feels like a violation, especially when it’s our kids.
June 18th, 2015 at 11:50 am
of course it feels like a violation….because it is 100% a violation. Good for you for standing your ground mama bear!
June 12th, 2015 at 4:45 am
What a horrible thing for them to do. Theft of a photo is terrible enough, though we all know it happens in this age of Pinterest and a blase attitude toward using other people’s images. I cannot believe a company would behave in such a nauseating way as to use her image to… It makes me ill. I am so sorry this happened to you.
June 12th, 2015 at 4:56 am
Hi Christie,
A short update: I just had a very acceptable discussion via phone with Genoma, ES. They deeply regret what happened.
They were able to reassure, that they are willing to support and protect people with down syndrome, especially future parents of children with down syndrome. They are working on an official statement they want to release. They will get into contact with you – the parents.
The picture is removed. They will apologize to you and your daughter directly. The use of the picture was done in the belief it was free to use (as it is said on a turkish website, where it is still offered).
Genoma is going to support the worldwide Down Syndrom Organisations, by means and activities which they will define in the next hours / days.
In best case, you made a complete company become a strong and active supporter of the Down Syndrome society.
We are happy to hear from Genoma they see what went wrong, and more: They try to do their best now. If you agree I will forward your email address to their CEO. Chris
July 20th, 2016 at 12:16 am
This is encouraging. I’d like to know Christie’s response to this.
June 12th, 2015 at 5:24 am
Hello! I write you from Spain.I saw yesterday your son photo and i am so sad! I want you to be strong in this terrible moment,i send you my best wishes for your beatiful son, From Spain we Pray for your family.
We understand you perfectly because our third son have Down syndrome!
We love our kids as they are,we dont want to change them,as seems this society want to do!
June 12th, 2015 at 6:05 am
My heart ached for you as I read this. How devastating! Your daughter is an absolute beauty. As you so perfectly stated – “How dare they!”
I pray you will find both justice and peace in this situation. But even more importantly, I pray for strength and healing for your precious girl.
Much love,
Kamea
June 12th, 2015 at 8:23 am
Your daughter is extremely beautiful. She reminds me of the young woman who is working to become a super model with the same disability. I hope she succeeds in her fight to live to become a tremendous success in her life.
June 12th, 2015 at 8:54 am
How hurtful. I’m so sorry someone used your daughter’s image in this way. It’s a beautiful photo:) Glad to read something is being done about it!!
June 12th, 2015 at 10:59 am
Hi Christie, I’m the person who took the photo. My daughther, Silvia, has down syndrome like your child.
I came back from the pediatrician because silvia has a simply rash in her skin and we saw the ad. First, I was totally upset. Second, I thought I have to share this pic with my contacts in Madrid.
And simply happened. One contact shared, another one shared in the group of World Down Syndrome… a lot of buzz that, sincerely, make me feel upps! but on the other hand, I think it’s very important to fight for the right of our children.
It’s not about the test. It’s about the message. It’s about to have no ethic using your child photo.
I give you a big hug for you and all your family. And I wish your beautiful child a quick recovery from her Leukemia.
Best wishes
Ana
June 14th, 2015 at 7:35 am
Thank you Ana for raising the alarm on the offensive banner. The Down Syndrome community is like a family and we look out for each other. I don’t believe this company acted maliciously, but with great ignorance and a disconcerting lack of respect. Here’s hoping they, and companies like them, will learn the lesson.
June 16th, 2015 at 7:18 pm
But it is horribly malicious to use a picture of a person Down Syndrome in an ad for pre-natal testing. And they up the damage times ten by stealing the photo of your darling daughter. I don’t even have kids of my own but I am fired up about this…seriously pissed off.
Glad to hear the company is backing down but my word, how could they do that in the first place?
All good wishes and prayers for strength and healing for your daughter and family as she goes through the rest of her chemo treatments.
June 16th, 2015 at 7:26 pm
eeeexactly. even of they believed they had the legal right, on what planet did they think this was ethical?
June 12th, 2015 at 1:37 pm
I am so sorry 😦 Many of us figure we’re taking a risk when we post a photo, but no one expects THAT – that is exploitation at its ugliest! 😦
June 12th, 2015 at 5:02 pm
Hi Christie, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am that this happened. I saw this photo as well on a closed Down syndrome advocacy page where a woman, Carolina, was asking for our help in taking it down. I asked people I know, Chris Schubert and others to help. We came together to find you and to help. I hope things get better and this all gets resolved. This company should’ve known better. More importantly than all of this, is your daughter & your family and what you all are going through. Wishing you all the best and sending lots of strength. If there is anything I can do, I’m here. God Bless ❤
June 14th, 2015 at 7:36 am
Thank you for the part you played in protecting my daughter’s dignity. Thank you for your support!
June 12th, 2015 at 5:17 pm
Please be sure to tell us if there is anything we can do to help.
June 12th, 2015 at 7:26 pm
I share your anger. You have a beautiful daughter and you are a great mom. I’ll keep your daughter and family in my thoughts and prayers… I hope the treatments are successful.
Thank you for posting, I’ve shared your post with my friends and signed the change.org petition.
Jose
June 12th, 2015 at 7:30 pm
If Genoma is this irresponsible and slip shod with these types of legalities, one can only imagine how poor their medical research must be,
Is your daughter feeling any better?
June 14th, 2015 at 7:40 am
We’ve had a good day yesterday which is lovely. Monday starts another 4 day stint of more intense chemo so that’s always hard, but she’s a trooper. It’s a long road ahead still, but hopefully the worst is behind her. Thanks for asking!
June 12th, 2015 at 8:06 pm
What an awful thing to do! It’s a stunning picture put into a horrible context. What I don’t understand is how they got the quality so good on such a large print if it was stolen from the internet. Normally you need a high resolution image to pass for stock photography.
Either way, get a lawyer and sue the heck out of them. Praying for a full bill of health for your daughter!
June 12th, 2015 at 8:23 pm
Fight this, fight this, fight this. As a photographer, this angers me, but as a mother this infuriates me. How dare they? She is gorgeous and I can only imagine the amount of joy she has brought to your life and so many others is absolutely beyond words, beyond measure. What they have done is illegal and immoral. I pray for your daughter’s strength in her battle to get better (and I pray for your family). May she keep smiling and be happy and healthy real soon.
June 12th, 2015 at 9:26 pm
You should start a Kickstarter campaign to sue the pants off those jerks. I’ll happily contribute. I’m so sorry that your daughter’s beautiful image was used in such a creepy slimy campaign. Yuck. Hope her treatment goes perfectly.
June 12th, 2015 at 10:21 pm
That’s disgusting every child has a right so they do I think this needs to be taken down and put a stop to NOW!!!! 😡😡😡😡
June 14th, 2015 at 7:42 am
Thankfully Genoma’s taken it down now, though it’s still up on the other site. We’re working on that…
June 12th, 2015 at 11:00 pm
As someone who also blogs and has a public FB page with my children’s faces on it, this story terrifies me and all I have shared it with. Our son’s image has been used a few times without permission before, but has always been taken down as soon as I have requested it to be removed – but your story is BIG. Is there anything we can do to help?? You just need to say the word and I’m pretty sure a (large, international) army would launch into action. Please let us know if there’s anything we can action to get this fixed (as much as is possible) for you x
June 13th, 2015 at 12:22 am
Hello I felt terrible as I read this.. Which Turkish stock photo site did this? I live in Turkey and I’ll be happy to spread the word here to bust them..
June 13th, 2015 at 5:20 am
The page offering the phot is to be found here: http://www.freelargeimages.com/down-syndrome-954/
The owner is located in Istanbul.
June 14th, 2015 at 7:46 am
Thank you – I’d appreciate that. It’s freelargeimages.com So far 2 other parents have found stolen images of their children on the Down syndrome page also. The registrar (Future Business Solutions Inc) has not responded to us, nor removed the page.
June 16th, 2015 at 4:31 am
Hi, Christie: although that domain is registered to a Turkish company, the IP address that it’s assigned to appears to be controlled by a German service provider. The abuse address for that ISP is abuse@plusserver.de. See http://whois.domaintools.com/188.138.123.139 for more details.
German law has pretty strong protections for personality rights, so you may find more traction if you bring the issue to them. I hope this helps.
June 17th, 2015 at 10:19 pm
Thanks seems inadequate to you and others who are helping, just to do the right thing!
June 16th, 2015 at 8:05 am
Thanks a lot, Tim. I have contacted the hosting company (which is only a few miles away). Of course they cannot interact, except there would be VERY strong indicators for crime on the website (weapons, drugs, …) but a technician promised on phone that he would send an email to the domain owner.
June 13th, 2015 at 1:36 am
Your daughter is so beautiful I just can’t imagine she could discourage someone having her. I wish her and you all, all the luck in the world with her treatment.
I don’t think an apology in this case is enough for what they’ve done to your child’s honor. I think the responsible of this campaign ever airing should be fired.
June 13th, 2015 at 2:14 am
we translated your letter into spanish.
What they did is difficult to accept, but you have millions of people that offer support.
http://www.infovaticana.com/2015/06/13/genoma-usa-la-foto-de-la-nina-down-sin-permiso-de-sus-padres/
June 13th, 2015 at 2:46 am
Hope tour lovely daughter recovers soon, lots of positive energy from Spain
June 13th, 2015 at 5:37 am
I am in tears reading this and YES how Dare they…. I was so proudly showing an ad in the globe and mail yesterday morning to Dawn from Staples with a picture of a beautiful young man and his father in support of Special Olympics. When she told me about your situation. To say those of us that heard about it were disgusted. You have lots of support at the DSRF I hope you sue their asses off and win big. Not because you are interested in financial compensation but as parents of these beautiful young people we need to protect them from exploitation and this is what this is, exploitation of a young lady and her family. AND facebook needs to be taken to task for this, there is software available to etiher completely stop people from downloading pictures or to allow the members to control who can do so.
June 14th, 2015 at 7:48 am
Can you post a link to the software here? I’m sure there’s lots of parents who are interested.
June 13th, 2015 at 5:46 am
I am so sorry that this happened to u and ur beautiful little girl.. I say sue them.. Sue those bastards for everything they got!! Good luck ( also how did the cancer treatments go? How is ur little one doing?)
June 14th, 2015 at 7:50 am
Cancer treatments continue (at least 1 1/2 years to go), and while she’s had a rough time with lots of complications it is working and keeping the cancer at bay. That is all we hope and pray for. Thank you for asking. Yesterday she got up out of bed and played, so that’s a good day.
June 13th, 2015 at 6:38 am
shame to them 😦
your daugther is beautifull 🙂 and has the shame rigth to live as and other person a big kiss to her from my also beautifull Joana 🙂
June 13th, 2015 at 7:50 am
I only can give you and your girl and your family a big hug from Spain… trying to repair the pain. I pray for you and your family…. and all those who agree with that kind of publicity and methods… I pray specially for the recovering of your little girl.
June 13th, 2015 at 7:52 am
Christie, just came across your blog. So devastating…if you are looking to spread the word about this story, you may be interested in contacting Life Site News. They would probably share this post, or write an article on it. https://www.lifesitenews.com/topics/abortion. May God bless you, and heal your family.
June 13th, 2015 at 10:48 am
I am so saddened by what this company has done to your family. What can I do to help you get the message to them that what they did was so incredibly wrong in so many ways – can I write some letters to these companies? Let me know… My heart and prayers continue for you all. Naomi Laycock
June 13th, 2015 at 11:05 am
Hi there. I am so sorry to see what has happened to your family. We had a similar situation happen with a stolen photo of our son when he had a large facial tumor that went viral on Facebook (multiple millions of shares internationally) with a false story. It was further used by unscrupulous individuals to drive web traffic as well as by a Danish atheism blogger who used it to prove that “there is no God, because how could a God allow this horrific child to be born.”
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/medical/cancerbaby.asp
Exceedingly painful. I wish I could report that we got resolution, but Facebook refused to remove the photo and it still out there. Hopefully because your photo was used in print, you will have more recourse than we did, because our son’s photo was only used digitally and we did not have copyright on the photo.
Best to you and your family! –Hope
June 14th, 2015 at 7:54 am
This is horrifying – how dare they! Children are a gift – those who use and abuse them, especially for their own gain, are the lowest of the low.
June 15th, 2015 at 12:45 pm
Who did have copyright on the photo? In most countries, I believe you would have to sign a release firm consenting to use an image of you or your children. Genuinely interested why you think you didn’t have copyright on this occasion.
June 17th, 2015 at 10:22 pm
No release. No consent. Photo was stolen.
June 18th, 2015 at 5:50 am
Hope, you can report the picture to Facebook, and if you post the link of it on Facebook I’ll be happy (and many others, I guess) to report it as well as “offensive” so that the picture will be removed.
June 19th, 2015 at 7:46 am
This is a real problem on FB, but we didn’t post it there. It was stolen from my personal website.
June 13th, 2015 at 11:18 am
You should sue the company into bankruptcy. That is a horrific violation of your privacy. They deserve to pay for their actions
June 15th, 2015 at 12:45 pm
Yes – Crowd source funding if need be – – I’d contribute!
June 13th, 2015 at 11:52 am
Firstly, I would like to say that you have a beautiful daughter, and I hope the battle she is fighting will be a triumphant one.
Further, I would like to say I am glad you are consulting an attorney. this type of disparaging attack is ridiculous. I hope that you are successful in addressing this with the dodgy company who has undertaken such a horrible action.
Best wishes.
June 13th, 2015 at 12:30 pm
I understand your reluctance to put pictures of your child out there even before this happened. I applaud the fact that you realized you did nothing wrong and this wasn’t your fault (please continue to believe that in your mind and heart as well). I am also glad that you did not delete other photos after this horrible incident.
Why? Because we need as many photos as possible out there. People need to see these “disabled” children that they’re afraid of having everywhere. They need to see their smiling faces. How happy they are. They need to see them taking care of their baby brother, or running, or fishing, or working, or napping, or making others laugh, or dancing, or cleaning, or struggling, or playing. Pictures of our children being people is what will ultimately combat companies like this, the social perception, and ultimately the abortion rate.
I am so angry that someone stole your photo and put it on a free stock website. Why? What was the point? I just don’t get it.
Then I’m angry again and heartbroken that a company used her photo in this fashion.
At the same time, I’m amazed they did. The stolen picture of your child is beautiful. I can’t imagine her photo making anyone think about testing so they could avoid a “child like her.”
Best of luck to all through this and your daughter’s battle.
June 14th, 2015 at 7:57 am
Thank you. This might be the most encouraging comment I’ve read, and just when I needed to hear it most.
June 18th, 2015 at 5:58 am
I agree with you Kelly, people need to learn that “perfect” is very relative/subjective: people are people, no matter what is their colour, shape, length, abilities.
I hope to get pregnant, and in spite of my age, I would not want to be bothered by tests to “detect” Down Syndrome, although for many people it might be a reason to abort. God will give us the perfect baby, in all its meanings.
June 13th, 2015 at 1:09 pm
My husband says you should have them agree to pay for all the medical care you’ve had done up to now and any future procedures. I am so sorry for your family. Your daughter is beautiful.
Even if they didn’t intend the theft, they did intend to use your daughter’s face for their wicked campaign.
June 13th, 2015 at 1:50 pm
I am so very sorry about the “hijacking” of your beautiful daughters photo…and I wanted to touch on a point you made regarding prenatal testing….When I became pregnant with my daughter,I was 32,had already suffered one miscarriage and both pregnancies were difficult to conceive due to my health issues.My OBGYN sat us down early and said that with my being a high risk patient,if I wanted prenatal testing and we agreed.He then informed us that as a Catholic,he did not refer or perform terminations at which point we informed him we were more than okay with it because abortion was never going to be an option for us because after all we endured trying to start a family,we sure as heck weren’t going to deny a gift from God for any reason.I actually DID have the testing to prepare us…. if we did have a baby who had speci
l needs of any kind,we needed to learn all we could so that we could ensure we had everything in place…from delivery to the first postnatal checkup.The tests came back clear and all but shortly after my scheduled C section my child had feeding problems (chokinf,reflux) and spent 5 days in NICU and came home on an apnea monitor -fast forward 11 years and we have a “typical-abled” daughter.I know its easy for me to say now that I would not terminate but its the honest truth and I wanted to tell you that there are actually some of us out there who DID agree to testing to prepare themselves.
BTW,I hope you are able to stop this web page from exploiting your childs photos and hit em where it hurts!
June 14th, 2015 at 8:03 am
Thank you for speaking up for the 5% – you make a valid point. Prenatal testing is not the same as selective abortion, truly. And there are those who do so to prepare themselves to joyfully accept the gift of a child with Down Syndrome, just as you did. I understand that. However, the practice is far too closely linked to widespread elimination of the disabled for me to ever feel comfortable with it. Certainly not to put my daughter’s face on it.
June 18th, 2015 at 12:19 am
You know what really messes my head up with this whole thing?
Someone obviously looked at that photo of your daughter, with this horrid campaign in mind, and – having looked at her face – actually failed to think “Aw… she’s beautiful… we can’t sell a product on the basis of ending the life of someone like her before it’s even begun!”
I find that fact disturbing. That someone could be so cold and couldn’t-care-less about this whole thing.
I hope that Genoma end up having to face your concerned in full, one way or another: it is a sick premise upon which to base the selling of tests like that.
You said: “the practice is far too closely linked to widespread elimination of the disabled for me to ever feel comfortable with it.”
When I was a psychology undergraduate at the University of Leeds, my lecturer turned up with a newspaper cutting announcing the possibility of finding a genetic marker for autism. She had a son who was diagnosed as Asperger-autistic, and that diagnosis pretty much describes me too. And she knew this. And she was Jewish. So you can tell pretty much where this whole conversation went when discussing this article. Neither of us was thrilled with that news, because we know what gets done with that sort of science. I’d studied the way that Henry Goddard had used scientifically-generated knowledge in order to pick and choose who could procreate and and who could not; I’d studied how Nazis in Germany were treating all disabled people (especially those whose disabilties were developmental – like mine and like your daughter’s; we had Hans Asperger arguing the case for us in his Habilitation paper – I don’t know if anyone was making the case for children like her). I’d seen how this whole blossoming of science had heralded the incoming of eugenics.
My psychology class that morning was qualitatively different from all others before it and many others since.
June 13th, 2015 at 1:57 pm
So sorry to hear that this happened to you. Your daughter is beautiful! Thank you for bringing it to light. I also have a child with Down Syndrome and thanks to your blog I have found her photo (without our permission) on freelargeimages.com. Not sure there is much that can be done, but I will try. We will be thinking of you all as you face the challenges ahead! Stay strong!
June 14th, 2015 at 7:00 am
Laura, I’m so sorry to hear this and I hope we can help each other shut them down. We are even more powerful together!
June 13th, 2015 at 2:41 pm
Christie, my daughter is in that same website, photo listed without permission, photo used for banners, could we connect? ellen at ellenstumbo dot com
June 14th, 2015 at 6:58 am
Thank you for reaching out. I’ve sent you an email. I’m so sorry this happened to you and your daughter as well.
June 15th, 2015 at 9:21 am
I’d suggest using the TinEye image search to locate further use of your image(s). I was able to find this Romanian page, “Cum va fi viata unui copil cu sindrom Down” (can I post links? better not risk it… the site is suntgravida.ro and you should be able to find it easily). Use Google Translate to read it.
Note, although TinEye might find a picture, many times sites will promote new articles and the hit will occur on other pages because they featured a link to the article in the new/trending section across their whole site. Since those sections only show recent links, by the time you visit it you won’t find it there. So if you follow a link from TinEye and don’t see the picture on the page, that’s probably what happened (especially when it’s a thumbnail size image). I had to go to the site that was actually hosting the image and search their articles for Down Syndrome to actually find the article that used the picture.
June 17th, 2015 at 10:21 pm
Thank you for the heads up. When we have a moment to breath we will have to deal with this and look for others… I appreciate the tip.
June 13th, 2015 at 4:29 pm
Sue the crap out of the bastards. They dont care that they hurt you. They need to be punished.
June 13th, 2015 at 10:44 pm
What a nightmare. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I’m sorry for the friend who took the beautiful photo and shared it internationally without your consent. I’m glad to read that the company regrets their use of it, but it was an innocent mistake. The problem is with the Turkish company. Perhaps Genoma is big enough to get that source to take the photo down. On the positive side, you and your daughter are getting a lot of press and prayers right now. May Jesus be praised in your suffering and joy, and bring lasting healing and health.
June 14th, 2015 at 8:11 am
Monumental blunder at best – an illegal one. Copyright law is no joke and publishers are responsible for getting the express consent of the owner for their specific purpose. Downloading a “free” picture from a very suspect website is beyond inappropriate for anyone, much less a marketing campaign for a large corporation. Their thoughtlessness has caused us, and a whole community of people, a lot of pain. I
June 14th, 2015 at 8:13 am
Oops – didn’t finish, sorry. Thank you for your support and I do hope we’re able to take down this immoral Turkish website.
June 14th, 2015 at 1:14 am
Stay strong and stand your ground. That company have violated your daughter as well as insulting the efforts that you unconditionally make as parents to make your beautiful child’s life s happy one!
As for featal screening / testing, as a parent my view was why import risk of miscarriage through a test when if my child was born unwell we’re still going to provide unlimited love and unconditional care as parents anyway!
Hold your ground, just like if violence or danger threatens your child you would give your life to protect her, you must go to the same lengths morally and ideologically! Your story is inspiring! X
June 14th, 2015 at 1:45 am
I’m horrified. Your daughter is truly beautiful (as you know!) and I can’t believe some people’s complete lack of ethics / respect for other human beings. You did nothing wrong!
June 14th, 2015 at 3:21 am
My beautiful son was born just over 1 month ago, William Edward has DS too. I cannot begin to even feel your agony and rage over this clear misuse of your magical daughter. An option is to create a free CARE2 Petition and get as many to sign against this horrible company. Care2 can raise hundred of thousands of voices and that might scare them. If you do so please keep me posted as I will gladly sign on yours and our behalf. LOVE to your family and our kids are precious and deserve to live xxx MarieDahlKell@outlook.com
June 14th, 2015 at 8:17 am
Congratulations on your son’s birth – and welcome to a lovely and supportive community.
We appreciate everyone’s desire to help us. It’s overwhelming in the best way and we hardly know what to do with it all. We will let you know and are taking note of all suggestions. Genoma has removed her picture and we are taking steps to address our concerns with them. The free images site continues undeterred and now 2 other parents have found stolen pictures on it. They are more tricky to deal with. We’ll keep you posted. Thank you.
June 14th, 2015 at 9:24 am
[…] (source: My Child’s Photo was Used in an Offensive Corporate Campaign | So Here’s Us…) […]
June 14th, 2015 at 9:25 am
Large corporations (especially Big Pharma) have unbridled access to our children. They steal their photos, like your child, for malicious ad campaigns–they prey on them through seemingly well-intentioned industry charities. They delight in our children being sick with chronic conditions and fight against prevention. And then they have the nerve to suggest some of our children should not have even been born. Outrage! We need international legislation that makes it criminal for companies to prey on children in this predatorial fashion. This is exploitation. It’s an outrage. Thank you for sharing your story–a story that is sadly far from singular these days.
June 14th, 2015 at 9:40 am
I’m really sorry this happened to you. While you may not believe their intents towards you and your child were intentionally malicious, CLEARLY their overall intent is malicious since their goal is to kill children in the womb 😦 I hope this gets good coverage and shows the ugly truth about companies promoting the sorts of things this company is promoting/selling
June 14th, 2015 at 10:17 am
Absolutely shocking. It always disgusts me the termination rate of children with Down syndrome. No child should be treated that way and Down’s syndrome children are no different. Your daughter is beautiful and an asset to humanity.
June 14th, 2015 at 10:19 am
Reblogged this on A Journey Into A Unique Mind and commented:
I apologise for my long absence. I will write my own post soon. But in the meantime, here is w shocking story of what people labelled as “disabled” face in life. My heart goes out to this poor woman and her beautiful daughter.
June 14th, 2015 at 11:35 am
Wow. I can’t believe that people can be so low as to not only steal a photo, but then use an innocent child as proof of apparently what they think people don’t want. That is so shameful.
June 14th, 2015 at 5:39 pm
Keep writing. Don’t go into hiding. The world needs to hear you. I found this blog article because it was linked from the front-page National Review article. Keep this post here so that other such journalists can link back to you and readers like me can verify, hear more of the story.
Thank you for being brave and “putting your story out there.”
Good for you for seeking legal council. Any lawyer ought to be happy to take your case for no payment except a small portion of the payment you are due to receive from Genoma. So make sure you get the best legal council available–you should have “the pick of the market.” And it is not bitter or malicious to bring suit against them–I think it is your duty. This company flagrantly broke the law in multiple ways, and it has fallen to you to be the one to hold their feet to the fire for their wrongdoing.
I am praying for you to have a clear head to make good choices in all this.
Thank you for standing firm and thank you for sharing this story. Your daughter is beautiful.
June 14th, 2015 at 8:04 pm
Reblogged this on lbushman and commented:
Just……………………………………………
June 14th, 2015 at 8:13 pm
Please tell me you are suing them!
June 14th, 2015 at 8:26 pm
Shit. I mean… SHIT. Who could take such a beautiful picture and use it as a CAUTIONARY tale? Who looks at that photo and says “oh fuck no, that’s horrible”? I jsut.. EUGH. HOW? What kind of fucked up arsehole sees that and thinks ‘nope’? It’s a beautiful, sweet picture that belongs more on a ‘give me a chance’ poster than a scare poster, if such a thing were to be created.
I wish you so much luck in seeking legal action. They all deserve to pay for having used your daughter, full stop, and like this, in particular.
June 15th, 2015 at 1:50 am
Hey I’m a professional photographer who would love to take some photos for you.
June 15th, 2015 at 6:47 am
Surely that biotech has the funds to hire a photographer for marketing but I’ll bet they couldn’t find any parent willing to subject their child to marketing a product that seeks to eliminate people like them. What they did was unethical and outrageous.
June 15th, 2015 at 10:50 am
My guess is that you are entitled to quite a bit in damages for this. Get yourself a very good intellectual property law attorney who is well-versed in international copyright treaties. This is a heinous crime and the responsible parties should be severely punished.
June 15th, 2015 at 11:28 am
I am so deeply saddened, angry, physically sickened that someone could do that to you– your daughter! What an invasion! And to be used in such a way? God bless you on your path to redemption here. I’m here for commenting, joining the ranks… whatever– I’ve never been so appalled at advertising in my life– and it is my career.
Take care– you’ve got friends…
Paula
June 15th, 2015 at 11:29 am
Your daughter is lovely. I do hope you get more satisfaction from the thieves who stole her image and attempted to steal her dignity. What this corporation did was deplorable.
I wish your family strength and courage is your cancer battle.
Mama Bears RULE!
June 15th, 2015 at 12:25 pm
Your daughter is so beautiful! Your article on the abuse that your family has suffered on top of everything else your family is going through makes me want to cry. I work with a family member of yours, but my background is digital communications – I will be posting a boycott on my FB regarding the company listed above, so that my professional colleagues are aware.
May I share your post on my social media accounts?
June 19th, 2015 at 7:50 am
Thank you for asking so respectfully. Yes.
June 15th, 2015 at 12:32 pm
It is not just your opinion, it ABSOLUTELY IS illegal! I tell you this as a photographer– there are copyright laws. You took the picture, you own the copyright. That is your daughter–by U.S. laws, anyone who uses a child’s picture for media, marketing, public display, etc. must have a written release consent form from the parent/legal guardian to do so.
June 15th, 2015 at 1:31 pm
Unauthorized use of an image is a violation of privacy in many U.S. states. I’m not sure where you’re located, but I would pursue any and all causes of action. Stealing a child’s photo is repulsive, but the ableist, hateful implications are even worse. I’m an autistic adult and a lawyer, and were I licensed in the appropriate state, would definitely volunteer my services. Best of luck to you.
June 15th, 2015 at 1:45 pm
Hi, my name is Jen Gerson and I’m an editor with the National Post. Would you be able to pop me an email? jgerson@nationalpost.com
June 15th, 2015 at 6:44 pm
Beauty from ashes….God will use your beautiful daughter’s photo and story to further reveal the evil behind abortion. I look forward to a glorious unfolding!
June 15th, 2015 at 10:24 pm
As a photographer I’m appalled by the fact that they effectively stole the image and then went onto use this for free on their website and in an international advertising campaign.
Leaving aside the arguments about disability testing (which are strong and compelling – I have some degree of autism myself so don’t get me wrong, I’m on your side here) the fact that they have profited at your expense by using your image is a clear breech of copyright and they should be paying you for it’s use.
I did a quick check using the calculator that’s available on the Association of Photographers page – http://www.the-aop.org/information/usage-calculator – and using my personal daily rate (£680) to cost up an image, used in two countries (Switzerland and Spain), as a poster, plus on the company’s website and intranet, for a nominal licencing period of one year (I never sell images for less than this in terms of a time period) the figure that comes up is £2692.80.
If you use Getty Images’ price calculator for a similar usage calculation then the cost produced is around £4,580.
Normally for unlicensed use you would up this cost by at least 100% which then gives you a cost of £5,385.60 – £9,160. However, given that there are aggravating circumstances (eg: the subject material that the image was used on is deeply offensive to you) you could reasonably argue that, as a minimum, this should probably increase by 200% (or more) which bring you to a cost of at least £8,078.40 – £13,740.
I should emphasis that the figures that I’ve worked out here however are probably really low and a good lawyer – one with some experience of intellectual property law – might be able to argue for way more than this – http://www.epuk.org/news/follow-the-daniel-morel-vs-afp-and-getty-images-trial-with-epuks-daily-reports
Put simply, I think you shouldn’t let them send you £50 plus a bunch of roses and an apology!
It may feel wrong to you to be making money of the back of their mistake, but don’t feel bad, if you don’t really want it anyway, give it to a charity working with kids like your beautiful daughter.
Either way if you’d like any more advice and/or a help with this feel free to get in touch with me.
June 17th, 2015 at 10:22 pm
Thank you for all the time and effort you put into this research. We appreciate your support.
June 16th, 2015 at 5:09 am
I want to say what a terrible sign that is, what a terrible message. But then, at the very least we can recognize that it is being honest. And in a capitalist society like Spain, it is an idictment of their culture that would apparently respond to such an ad. Not that we in the US aren’t equally or all the more culpable.
But, all the more offensive is that this company would use this image regardless of how legally justified they THOUGHT they were. They had to have known that that was a picture of SOMEONE’S beautiful child… of a real person, none of whom would have supported such a terrible, inhumane message. And shouldn’t that point out to them so much.
As a fellow parent, I cannot imagine something more angering and offensive. Mock or hurt me? Forgiveness and turning the other cheek is my duty. Mock or hurt one of my beautiful children? Forgiveness is still my calling, turning the other cheek is not my right.
Go get ’em, mama bear.
June 17th, 2015 at 10:18 pm
I should mention that the Spanish people protested mightily in the face of this banner, and it is through their efforts and others (Chris) that we were made aware of what was happening. We are very grateful to the community there for looking out for our daughter. An unexpected side effect of having a child with down syndrome – all around the world, we look out for each other.
June 16th, 2015 at 9:00 am
[…] that just rejected abortion restrictions, it was nothing short of creepy. And it was also used without the permission of the little girl’s […]
June 16th, 2015 at 1:13 pm
Hi, Christie! I’m a reporter with TheBlaze. I would love to talk with you about what you and your family have been going through. Could you shoot me an email at kschallhorn@theblaze.com? Thanks so much!
June 16th, 2015 at 3:49 pm
Thanks to all of you who helped, with hints and tips: In the end, things will mend. Thank you all having complained, after activation of google, talking on phone to the hosting company, having a swiss lawyer engaged, having contacted a turkish lawyer – I don’t know what has worked best, but: the picture is removed. Have a nice evening, Christie, Glen and their daughter.
June 16th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
Reblogged this on juanloprada.
June 16th, 2015 at 5:57 pm
Hey Mom! Your courage and strength in the face of such adversity is absolutely inspiring. Your daughter is beautiful and deserves her picture in big lights, celebrating her life with blessings for her future. All our hearts are with you. If we can help, please advise.
June 16th, 2015 at 9:42 pm
Dear Christie and family,
I see that you have successfully had your daughter’s image removed and I hope this has made this horrible situation better.
I found your story on a page called precious life, an anti abortion page. I have been wanting to send you an email as there is another privacy issue about your story that I noticed and I think you might want to consider but I couldn’t find an email address and I don’t feel it should be discussed in public so if you could email me that would be great.
June 17th, 2015 at 7:38 am
I wouldn’t mind betting Genoma has a financial stake in the biopirated genes of down syndrome people that it would defend to the full extent of IP laws too.
Sadly, commercial genomics is still more about appropriating, privatising and selling information harvested from others than about innovation aimed at better health outcomes.
Even more sadly it has still failed to shake off its historic links with the eugenics movement.
Congratulations on your win. Every victory helps all of us who put humanity ahead of uniformity.
June 17th, 2015 at 8:06 am
I am happy the photos are removed. I am unhappy, that several media, like lifenews.com, lifesitenews.com, are now writing articles, engaged, and seemingly denouncing – but on the other hand are using exactly the same photo which had been hijacked by freelargeimages. Without regarding the same copyrights. Scary. I have just complained at some of them, and one (Sueddeutsche Zeitung, from Germany) was so fair to have the image removed in less than 3 minutes.
It reminds me to run through my home, admonishing my kids to be quiet, as the smallest one wants to sleep.
June 17th, 2015 at 10:12 pm
I appreciate your desire to protect our privacy. I’m afraid that is only the tip of this nasty iceberg. If it was my main concern I wouldn’t have chosen to take this story public. It wasn’t a choice I made lightly, knowing that it might spread her picture even farther afield. The purpose for which this picture was used, the offensive implication to my daughter and all children like her are what makes the lack of consent far more upsetting. As long as our perspective is fairly represented I won’t object to these stories, although it should be noted that I do not necessarily support the agendas of those who are spreading it. I can only hope that thought will be given to the value and dignity of all people with Down Syndrome. They stole her voice, but she’s getting it back again.
June 17th, 2015 at 8:50 am
[…] on her personal blog, Hoos claimed that the company, Genoma, “stole” a photo of her smiling daughter she had posted. […]
June 17th, 2015 at 8:54 am
[…] on her personal blog, Hoos claimed that the company, Genoma, “stole” a photo of her smiling daughter she had posted. […]
June 17th, 2015 at 9:00 am
[…] on her personal blog, Hoos claimed that the company, Genoma, “stole” a photo of her smiling daughter she had posted. […]
June 17th, 2015 at 9:14 am
[…] on her personal blog, Hoos claimed that the company, Genoma, “stole” a photo of her smiling daughter she had posted. […]
June 17th, 2015 at 9:26 am
[…] on her personal blog, Hoos claimed that the company, Genoma, “stole” a photo of her smiling daughter she had […]
June 17th, 2015 at 10:12 am
[…] FROM This is US Blog. Original article can be found here My Child’s Photo was Used in an Offensive Corporate Campaign By So Here’s Us…. life […]
June 17th, 2015 at 10:35 am
First off your daughter is absolutely beautiful! Second, way to go mama bear! I’m sorry this has happened to you and your family. I doubt that whoever stole your picture knew that mamas are nothing to be taken lightly and you don’t mess with our kids. Happy you are being heard by the companies because like you said, you are not wrong, they are. Good luck with everything!
June 17th, 2015 at 10:59 pm
[…] Und hier geht’s zum Blog der Mutter (Englisch). […]
June 17th, 2015 at 11:42 pm
Cindy Fletcher said: “I’ve seen her loving face in person, her gorgeous smile and warm heart, she is definately NOT a poster child for this sick company.”
I agree.
If anything, and if I may be so bold as to say this: she’s the poster child for why one should NOT terminate a pregnancy where the baby is trisomy-21.
People would have said the same about my daughter – she has a different syndrome, and her mum and I knew we’d most likely have a child diagnosable with that syndrome.
I’m a scientist: mostly behavioural but mathematical also; and there’s some life sciences in the mix as well… and I thoroughtly hate the use of science in the way that this bloody company is using it. I’m very saddened that this thing happened to you all.
June 18th, 2015 at 4:24 am
Your daughter is so very beautiful! I can’t even put into words how I feel about what has been done. I don’t know how this company could possibly right this wrong but the better be working on it! Good luck to all of you! Hug your daughter tight for me.
June 18th, 2015 at 7:10 am
As a mother of a child with DS, and as a human being, I felt nauseous when I came across this story (a retweet of the CTV segment). On a normal day, my blood pressure goes up and my claws come out every time I consider the cold hard fact that 90% of people don’t think a life like my daughter’s is worth living. If my daughter’s picture was in that ad I would be absolutely traumatized! This ad is a hate crime against people with Down syndrome!
I don’t know you, your daughter or your family, but hang in there…I’ll be thinking about all of you, and hoping the cancer treatments do their job…
June 18th, 2015 at 8:21 am
Disgusting. Really disgusting.
June 18th, 2015 at 8:37 am
Your daughter is beautiful, she really is.
People with Down’s Syndrome have a right to live.
Got nothing more to say.
June 18th, 2015 at 9:01 am
Came across your blog post in my news feed and then saw the story on CTV. It makes my blood boil, my brother has downs and no person is more beautiful or has a bigger heart than these lovely people. Genoma makes me Angry hiding behind their cowardly comments because even if you or any parent had added the photos to a stock site with your consent it would never have been intended for advertisement of a product like theirs. Shame on them as their use was wrong in the first place.
I hope your lovely beautiful daughter makes a full recovery, good luck to you!
June 18th, 2015 at 9:18 am
Unfortunately, “wrong use” isn’t something you have control of when something is on a stock site.
There was a case recently where a family in Ireland got a good deal (free) on photos if the photographer was allowed to post the pics on stock sites. One of those pics was later used as a poster for the “No” side of a gay marriage issue.
The family seemed to be not too upset with it because they knew what they were getting into, but they did have to make a public statement that their views weren’t at all in line with the ad and that it was just a stock photo.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32873562
June 19th, 2015 at 7:44 am
Since we never released the photo for any purpose, since the “free images” website was so clearly disreputable (didn’t even bother to remove the watermark on the photo below ours, poor spelling, contact info and links didn’t work…) it’s hard to imagine anyone in the industry wasn’t at least concerned that it was a stolen photo. Not that it matters – the onus is on the publisher.
June 18th, 2015 at 9:15 am
I’m curious where the photo was snagged from. Was it directly off your blog or did you happen to post it on FB, Instagram or another service?
If it was your blog and nowhere else, then you’ve definitely got a case for copyright infringement. If it was ever on a social site, you may be out of luck.
This is a really good time for folks to go check the policies of their social media accounts. Not too many are aware that FB owns everything you post and can re-sell it for advertising whenever they want to.
From FB: For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
So, unless you’ve totally locked up your privacy settings, rendering FB pretty useless as a platform to share anything, your stuff can be used however they want.
June 19th, 2015 at 7:45 am
My own personal blog.
June 18th, 2015 at 9:44 am
Your daughter is so beautiful. I hope she makes a full recovery. It must be so hard right now dealing with this in addition to her treatment. No doubt she’s feisty coming from a feisty mum. Good luck!
June 18th, 2015 at 11:12 am
[…] REPOST FROM So Here’s Us Blog. Original article can be found here. […]
June 18th, 2015 at 11:57 am
I applaud your words. Your daughter is beautiful and courageous and the world could surely not be the same place without her so whoever dares even hint at any questions about her or other kids existence should be ashamed. If what that company was trying to do is promote a test to let parents chose not to have a child with some disability, then they failed miserably because your daughter’s sweet face will only make everyone want to have kids!
June 18th, 2015 at 2:58 pm
That is a really good point. If you couldn’t read the text of the ad, there is nothing onerous looking about it. It is only once you understand what it is for and the implications, especially given the eerily low birth rates of babies with Down’s Syndrome in Spain, that the entire thing is even uglier than it had it simply been a case of unauthorized use (which is creepy and unethical enough).
June 18th, 2015 at 1:05 pm
I’m very sorry that this happened to you and your daughter. I just had to comment though, when I first seen the picture my first thought was ‘wow, what a beautiful little girl’. She’s a cutie, and she doesn’t deserve to be disrespected in such a way, keep up the fight.
June 18th, 2015 at 1:22 pm
[…] On her blog, Christie Hoos said she was sitting at her daughter’s bedside in the pediatric oncology clinic at BC Children’s Hospital when she got a message on her phone from a friend who recognized her child in the ad. […]
June 18th, 2015 at 2:43 pm
Hi,
Just wanted to say your daughter is gorgeous and I hope she gets well as soon as possible. This must be such an unnecessary added stress to you right now. You have every right to be upset and any company should never use any persons image(s) without permission like that.
Best wishes to you and your family!
June 18th, 2015 at 4:18 pm
The use of the photo was an actionable violation of section 3 of the Privacy Act (unauthorized use of image for sales). Pass that on to the legal counsel you are consulting.
http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/00_96373_01
June 18th, 2015 at 4:52 pm
Dear Christie,
The one good outcome of this difficult time for you has been to introduce us to your beautiful daughter. Thank you for that! Her smile has brightened my day.
Best regards,
Sarah
June 19th, 2015 at 7:53 am
Thank you Sarah. Your comment brightened my day.
June 18th, 2015 at 8:07 pm
Becca is beautiful–great picture. You are very blessed, Christie.
June 18th, 2015 at 8:43 pm
I haven’t yet seen the name or website of the stock photo company given. Is there any way to know the .com or formal name of the site? I am an amateur photographer who also works with children with disabilities–definitely want to pass on the info so other photographers can boycott the stock photo site and so families can be aware of such companies.
Thanks
June 19th, 2015 at 12:11 am
It’s http://www.freelargeimages.com/down-syndrome-954/
June 18th, 2015 at 10:27 pm
I sent Genoma a scathing email reprimand. They should be utterly ashamed of themselves. My picture will soon be appearing on their “Irate Canadian Mom” testing kit! Never sent an email like that in my life, very glad I did! Proud to hear of a Strong Mom doing what’s best for her child and standing up to a huge company! Blessings to You and your Daughter!
June 19th, 2015 at 2:10 am
Dear Christie,
Sadly, it wasn’t a “mistake” of Genoma. CryoSave, another company of the dutch Esperite Groupe, made also a commercial with pix of children with down-syndrom. It was about promoting a discount for the tranquility-test on the occasion of this years world down-syndrom day:
http://blogs.stern.de/allesanderealsdown/unfassbar-geschmacklose-werbung-fuer-frueherkennung/
You see, degrading people with down-syndrome is a inherent part of their company strategy. I feel you should take them to court, while I know: You have other problems to solve right now.
I hope your daughter will be fine.
Kind regards and wishing you well!
David from the Swiss Independent Living Movement
June 19th, 2015 at 7:40 am
Is it wrong that I’m really, really hoping this isn’t true? I just can’t handle that level of ugly and hateful right now.
June 19th, 2015 at 8:20 am
Dear Christie
No, it is not. I totally understand you. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that anyway. I think it’s not just ugly and hateful, but simply bizarre. As you might know, due to our history we have another point of view on freedom of speech here in Europe. If someone would spread that kind of message about any other social minority, he or she would get into big trouble. People with disabilities are the only ones who have to put up with such things. I will contact a parliamentarian and propose him to take action with your case as an example for the need for change.
June 19th, 2015 at 5:38 am
Tranquility? Yes – this is indeed what the pic of your extremely charming daughter expresses. Think many people would immediately like to adopt her if neccessary. Congratulations!
I’ll hope your lawyer will give this strange company an expensive lesson – they deserve it!
Good luck & all the best.
June 19th, 2015 at 7:00 am
Christie – Please delete the above comment. I wish I hadn’t read it. I can’t believe someone would attack an innocent child in this way. I feel sorry for him, what a life to live filled with such hate.
June 19th, 2015 at 7:39 am
I agree. I’m sorry anyone had to read that.
June 19th, 2015 at 10:48 am
You are right to be annoyed, but you are also right, you do have a stunningly beautiful daughter- I think she is a poster girl for promoting the beauty of all children!
Keep strong, and keep posting. Please!
And I shall hope for the best outcome at this time when you need your strength of mind.
Rooting for you!
June 19th, 2015 at 10:58 am
[…] back in Canada, Hoos blogged about the ad, calling it “disparaging towards individuals with Down […]
June 19th, 2015 at 11:02 am
[…] back in Canada, Hoos blogged about the ad, calling it “disparaging towards individuals with Down […]
June 19th, 2015 at 11:02 am
[…] back in Canada, Hoos blogged about the ad, calling it “disparaging towards individuals with Down […]
June 19th, 2015 at 11:08 am
As a photographer and a mother, I’m disgusted and infuriated that your daughter’s photo was stolen and used this way. I’m so sorry it happened to both of you, and I will sign any petition that will help. You are not alone in your outrage at this nonsense. I hope you have a lawyer, and don’t hesitate to start a Go Fund Me page if you need help with the fees. Love and hugs to you and your whole family.
June 19th, 2015 at 11:37 am
As much as I feel for you I must say you did it to yourself.
Time and again we read in the press the sad laments of people who feel they have had their privacy invaded, there personal information ripped off or images they posted on line used in a manner they did not intend.
Well wake up and smell the roses. This type of thing has been going on for decades and has only gotten worse as the internet expanded.
There is no privacy on the internet.
In addition, everything you post that is original and exclusively yours can be copyrighted so at least you can go after infringement but you didn’t do that either.
It is a bit late to cry wolf when you voluntarily and naively posted your lovely daughter’s picture on the net.
If you want someone to yell at look in a mirror@
June 20th, 2015 at 2:38 pm
You are blaming the victim. That’s a horrible thing to do.
June 20th, 2015 at 2:53 pm
No it is not. How many times are we going to claim the “victim” has no responsibility for their actions?
In life, the choices we make have repercussions good and bad.
Had she not posted the pictures in the public domain none of this would have taken place.
When are you bleeding hearted naive souls going to get it?
There is no privacy on the internet. You have limited but never the less protection under copywrite which nobody does.
This is not a new thing. It happens every day.
Identities get stolen and some how it is not the “victim’s” fault. It is.
Look, if more than one person knows a secret it is no longer as secret.
That is a good motto to consider before you post anything on line, in a blog, on FB or TW.
June 20th, 2015 at 3:42 pm
Yes indeed, the victim of a crime is not responsible for the crime; the perpetrator is. Rape victims aren’t responsible for the rape, the jews aren’t responsible for the holocaust, the people killed in Charleston are not responsible for getting killed by a racist. And this blogger here is not to blame when a company violates her rights. It’s that simple.
June 20th, 2015 at 8:00 pm
You are deliberately missing the point and supporting the idea you should be able to throw stuff up on the net without fear it will be used in a manner you did not intend.
While as nice as that might be, the reality we live is that you are more likely to have this outcome and the wishful thinking you and your naive fellow travellers dream for.
Life ain’t like that.
Again, if you don’t want a bad outcome don’t put your personal life on the net.
Stop trying to justify your naïveté by your sick examples. The two things are so far apart in cause and effect it is to be laughable if it weren’t so sad.
On the contrary, Ms. Hoos has suffered nothing when compared to the Charleston victims and their families!
June 19th, 2015 at 12:22 pm
[…] back in Canada, Hoos blogged about the ad, calling it “disparaging towards individuals with Down […]
June 19th, 2015 at 2:49 pm
What an awful company and what a horrible thing for you to have to go through. Your daughter is beautiful. I hope next week is better for you all.
June 19th, 2015 at 3:55 pm
[…] “My daughter has been made the poster child for a prenatal testing kit called Tranquility. As if she were a cautionary tale: don’t let this happen to you,” Hoos writes about the incident. […]
June 19th, 2015 at 4:05 pm
[…] Hoos, a Canadian mother of four, posted a photo of her daughter who has Down syndrome on her personal blog. Then, it ended up being used to promote a company that performs genome testing on unborn […]
June 19th, 2015 at 4:08 pm
[…] Hoos, a Canadian mother of four, posted a photo of her daughter who has Down syndrome on her personal blog. Then, it ended up being used to promote a company that performs genome testing on unborn […]
June 19th, 2015 at 4:18 pm
[…] Hoos, a Canadian mother of four, posted a photo of her daughter who has Down syndrome on her personal blog. Then, it ended up being used to promote a company that performs genome testing on unborn […]
June 19th, 2015 at 4:27 pm
[…] Hoos, a Canadian mother of four, posted a photo of her daughter who has Down syndrome on her personal blog. Then, it ended up being used to promote a company that performs genome testing on unborn […]
June 19th, 2015 at 4:42 pm
[…] Hoos, a Canadian mother of four, posted a photo of her daughter who has Down syndrome on her personal blog. Then, it ended up being used to promote a company that performs genome testing on unborn […]
June 19th, 2015 at 4:44 pm
Horrible, horrible, horrible!!
Your photo, however is just beautiful, as is your sweet daughter. Thank you for sharing her beauty and her strength with a world that sometimes cannot see it.
June 19th, 2015 at 5:22 pm
[…] Hoos, a Canadian mother of four, posted a photo of her daughter who has Down syndrome on her personal blog. Then, it ended up being used to promote a company that performs genome testing on unborn […]
June 19th, 2015 at 8:18 pm
[…] Hoos, a Canadian mother of four, posted a photo of her daughter who has Down syndrome on her personal blog. Then, it ended up being used to promote a company that performs genome testing on unborn […]
June 19th, 2015 at 9:43 pm
[…] Hoos, a Canadian mother of four, posted a photo of her daughter who has Down syndrome on her personal blog. Then, it ended up being used to promote a company that performs genome testing on unborn […]
June 19th, 2015 at 10:51 pm
[…] Hoos, a Canadian mother of four, posted a photo of her daughter who has Down syndrome on her personal blog. Then, it ended up being used to promote a company that performs genome testing on unborn […]
June 20th, 2015 at 3:17 am
[…] Hoos, a Canadian mother of four, posted a photo of her daughter who has Down syndrome on her personal blog. Then, it ended up being used to promote a company that performs genome testing on unborn […]
June 20th, 2015 at 11:17 am
I am so sorry your family was hurt in this way – it’s horrible. Your daughter is precious for many reasons, the greatest of which is that she is a very image bearer of God. So, in stealing her image, the stock photo website was stealing God’s own image. That a picture of her precious face would be used to promote a product that leads to many, many people choosing to kill their own children is so sickening. I am beyond glad that you were informed and took action. May God be glorified through all this, and may many hearts be changed. I pray for your little girl as she goes through a difficult time, that God will heal her, and that He will use her in a mighty way for His kingdom.
June 20th, 2015 at 11:19 am
Your daughter is beautiful! What a horrible experience. I only hope some good came out of it and perhaps the lovely photo of your girl convinced some mother to bring another sweet baby into the world. I don’t see how anyone could look at her and decide otherwise.
June 20th, 2015 at 1:20 pm
That should not happen. Stealing photos of children is wrong.
June 20th, 2015 at 7:39 pm
I want to pray for your little girl in her fight against cancer. A child with cancer is the tragedy, not he extra chromosome. I also hope and pray that this will turn into good. It’s a beautiful picture; I hope many others pray for this sweet little face AND reconsider their own stance on this issue.
June 23rd, 2015 at 7:24 am
Hello. My name is Melissa and I work for TheMighty.com. Can you please email me at Melissa@themighty.com to discuss a potential article about this? Thank you so much.
Melissa McGlensey
Associate Editor at The Mighty
June 29th, 2015 at 12:45 pm
[…] A few weeks ago, the mother of a child with Down syndrome discovered that photos of her daughter had been stolen. Even worse, these photos had been stolen for the purpose of promoting prenatal genetic testing to detect Down syndrome. In her words: […]
July 2nd, 2015 at 6:22 pm
[…] Alice na internet e expor tanto nossa vida. Tudo isso porque li um texto que mexeu muito comigo, de uma mãe contando que usaram a foto da filha dela (sem autorização, claro) para um teste pré-natal. Além de ser super chato usarem uma foto de […]
July 15th, 2015 at 12:01 am
[…] è affetta da sindrome di Down ed è malata di tumore… come ha raccontato la mamma sul suo blog, ha scoperto questa storia mentre era seduto al reparto di oncologia pediatrica in attesa che la […]
July 19th, 2015 at 3:05 pm
[…] happened to one family whose photo was used in a store ad in the Czech Republic. It also horrified another mom when a picture of her daughter, who has Down Syndrome, was stolen from her blog and used to […]
July 21st, 2015 at 9:13 am
[…] happened to one family whose photo was used in a store ad in the Czech Republic. It also horrified another mom when a picture of her daughter, who has Down Syndrome, was stolen from her blog and used to […]
July 22nd, 2015 at 12:03 pm
[…] happened to one family whose photo was used in a store ad in the Czech Republic. It also horrified another mom when a picture of her daughter, who has Down Syndrome, was stolen from her blog and used to […]
July 26th, 2015 at 4:46 am
Putting a picture of a beautiful child with Down Syndrome on an ad for a prenatal test kit for Down Syndrome is basically THE worst sales strategy ever. It’s like,
“CAUTION: YOU COULD END UP WITH A BEAUTIFUL CHILD WHO WILL LIKELY FIND JOY IN PLACES MOST PEOPLE OVERLOOK.
THE CHILD MAY TEND TO BE KIND, COMPASSIONATE, AND GIVE PEOPLE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.
THE LOOK OF PRIDE ON CHILD’S FACE WHEN LEARNING NEW SKILLS THROUGHOUT LIFE MAY CAUSE YOUR HEART TO SOAR TO DANGEROUS HEIGHTS.
CHILD MAY EXHIBIT AN AWESOME SENSE OF HUMOR AND WILL USUALLY BE THE LIFE OF THE PARTY.
CHILD IS LIKELY TO EXCEED EXPECTATIONS AT AN ALARMINGLY RATE OF FREQUENCY, AND WILL LIKELY TEACH YOU MORE THAN YOU TEACH THEM.
Yeah, ugh, it would just be awful to have a kid like that… 😛
August 10th, 2015 at 1:34 pm
I am absolutely staggered! There’s no end to piracy, is there? I feel uneasy every time I even post one of my children on Facebook – will someone spot them and start stalking them, or abuse their photos for something? But how low can a person sink? The person who picked that photo off a random site without investigating if it were in public domain or not, should be prosecuted, along with the super-rich multinational company, to carry personal responsibility (jail time) for what has been done.
August 10th, 2015 at 1:36 pm
Let me add, that is an exceptionally beautiful photo. She looks like a lovely child. The Downs does not diminish her beauty in any way.
August 18th, 2015 at 12:44 am
[…] Christie Hoos, a Canadian mom whose daughter Becca has Down Syndrome, often blogs about her family. Rarely, she posts photos of her four kids online. But as she wrote in a recent blog post, “Once was all it took.” […]
September 14th, 2015 at 9:09 am
despicable
October 30th, 2015 at 11:29 am
[…] REPOST FROM So Here’s Us Blog. Original article can be found here. […]
April 21st, 2016 at 9:50 am
Thanks a lot, this really is a truly awsome article! Cool to read such a well-considered article! BTW, if anyone needs to fill out a IRS 943, I found a blank fillable form here http://goo.gl/rbLfLw
January 16th, 2017 at 9:39 am
[…] their users post. That means you can post a picture of your daughter and see it used for an advertisement a year […]
March 24th, 2017 at 12:28 am
Your daughter is beautiful. Thank you for your courage in this effort.
One consolation is that this beautiful image, and the attention it’s drawing will actually encourage many other people to choose life for their children. May God bless your heroic efforts.
September 4th, 2017 at 12:43 pm
[…] in Spanien hängen und informierte sofort die Mutter des kleinen süßen Mädchens. Auf ihrem Blog schreibt sie, was in ihr vorgeht… ich mag es mir nicht vorstellen. Das ist doch der […]
May 15th, 2019 at 10:58 am
[…] έγινε έξαλλη όταν είδε φωτογραφία της κόρης της με Σύνδρομο Down να χρησιμοποιείται σε διαφήμιση για εξετάσεις […]
August 7th, 2019 at 5:48 am
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April 25th, 2020 at 10:50 am
[…] You can find out more about this story here on Christie’s Blog […]
May 22nd, 2020 at 4:05 am
[…] encourage you to go read this post by Christie who talks about how a beautiful photo of her daughter was stolen and used in “an Offensive […]