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An Ottawa woman has won a lawsuit that could have profound implications on the right to privacy of people in the age of social media.

Basia Vanderveen, a communication strategy consultant, successfully sued in small claims court after a short video clip of her jogging was used in promotional video for a Westboro condominium project.

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“It’s about the right to control one’s image,” said Paul Champ, Vanderveen’s lawyer. “We all have the right to enjoy some measure of privacy, even when we are in public places.

“In the age of social media, when people go to great length to curate their public images, the law has to recognize that the misuse of someone’s likeness or image by another constitutes a violation of privacy. The court agreed with us.”

Not surprisingly, the defendant, Waterbridge Media, has the exact opposite view of the decision, which it called a “gross over extension of the law.”

“In a day an age where everyone has a video camera in their pocket, when everyone has a camera in their pocket attached to their cellphone, it’s unbelievable that a ruling like this was made,” said Waterbridge president Brian Frank.