Two teachers are taking legal action against a southern Queensland newspaper for publishing photographs of them taken from the social networking site Facebook.
The Warwick Daily News published an article last month with photos showing the teachers posing in schoolgirl uniforms.
Solicitor Rebecca Jancauskas says the story vilified the teachers.
“The global publication of this story has caused our clients incredible distress and has damaged their personal and professional reputations immeasurably,” she said.
“They’re now a laughing stock in their local community, their students and their peers view them very differently and their professional lives hang in the balance while Education Queensland decide the outcome of their investigation.”
Ms Jancauskas says the case will have wider ramifications for social media sites.
“I think it raises interesting issues that need to be determined, whether it be by a court or by a government, which is do user generated sites such as Facebook have the legal status of a modern day diary or personal correspondence?” she said.