Nation & World

<< Previous   of   Next >> Justin Fancher / Associated Press  (click to enlarge) A Christmas photo of the Smith family is part of an advertisement on a storefront in Prague, Czech Republic.   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Hey! That's us on that ad! 6/12/09   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Friday, June 12, 2009 Private photo ends up in store advertisement Associated Press ST. LOUIS -- When Danielle Smith and her family posed for their Christmas card photo last year, they knew they'd share it with family and friends. But the Missouri family wasn't expecting it to show up in the Czech Republic, splashed across a huge storefront advertisement. Smith, 36, who lives in the St. Louis suburb of O'Fallon, said Wednesday that she posted the photo on her blog and some online social networking sites. It featured her, her husband Jeff and their two children. About 10 days ago, a college friend was driving through Prague when he spotted their huge smiling faces in the window of a store specializing in European food. He snapped a few pictures and sent them to a flabbergasted Smith. "It's a life-size picture in a grocery store window in Prague -- my Christmas card photo!" she said. Mario Bertuccio, who owns the Grazie store in Prague, said the photo was from the Internet. Details were sparse, but he said he thought it was computer-generated. When told it was a real photo -- of a real family -- he said he started taking steps to remove it. "We'll be happy to write an e-mail with our apology," said Bertuccio, who insisted he would send the Smiths a bottle of good wine if they lived in his eastern European country. The Smiths and photographer Gina Kelly hadn't authorized anyone to use the pictures. Smith has gotten 180,000 hits to her Web site since she recently posted the story about the well-traveled snapshot. She said the photo wasn't used in an unseemly manner, only to tell potential shoppers about the store's delivery service. Smith said next time she posts a photo on the Internet, she's going to lower the resolution or add an electronic watermark to make it hard to reproduce. "This story doesn't frighten me, but the potential frightens me," Smith said. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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