Putting old family photos online: copyright, privacy and AI editing

You have scanned a box of photos of your great-grandparents. A wedding photo from 1928, with the stamp of a photographer from Ghent on the back. A family portrait from the 1950s. You want to share them with the family, perhaps on a genealogy site or on social media. And you wonder: is that simply allowed?

This article gives general information about the rules in Belgium and the Netherlands. It is not legal advice. If you are in doubt about a specific case, or want to use photos commercially, ask a lawyer for advice.

The short answer

Sharing privately with family is rarely a problem. If you want to put photos online publicly, look at three things. Copyright: it lasts until 70 years after the death of the photographer, and whoever inherits the print does not thereby have the copyright. Portrait rights: in Belgium, consent is needed from the person in the photo, and until 20 years after their death from the heirs. And the privacy of the living people in the photo. If you edit a photo with AI, say so, even though that is not required for private use.

1. Copyright: who took the photo?

Throughout the European Union, copyright on a photo lasts until 70 years after the death of its maker. What counts is not the date of the photo, but the year of death of the photographer. A photo from 1950 by a photographer who died in 1990 is protected until the end of 2060. If the photographer is unknown, protection lasts 70 years from the first lawful publication.

Two things that often come as a surprise:

• Inheriting a print is not inheriting the copyright. Belgian law states explicitly that whoever receives a work does not thereby receive the right to exploit it. A studio portrait therefore still belongs to the photographer or their heirs, unless the copyright was transferred in writing.
• A name or stamp on the photo counts. In Belgium, whoever is named on the work as its maker is presumed to be the maker, until the contrary is proven. The photographer's stamp on the back is therefore an indication of who held the copyright.

In the Netherlands there is an exception that is useful for families: of a portrait that was made on commission, the person portrayed and, after their death, the surviving relatives may have copies made. Whether that also covers putting it online publicly is not entirely clear.

2. Portrait rights: who is in the photo?

	Belgium	The Netherlands
Rule	Consent needed to make a portrait public	Balancing test: publication is not allowed if the person portrayed has a reasonable interest in opposing it
After death	Consent of the heirs, until 20 years after the death	For a portrait made on commission: consent of the surviving relatives, until 10 years after the death. Otherwise a close relative can object if they have a reasonable interest

The Belgian Data Protection Authority speaks of a double consent: whoever agrees to be photographed does not thereby agree to publication. For a photo of a great-grandfather who died long ago, portrait rights usually no longer play a role. For a photo of an aunt who died last year, they do.

3. Privacy: the living people in the photo

The European privacy law, the GDPR, does not apply to deceased persons. It does apply to the living people in the photo: cousins, nephews and nieces, children, yourself. There is an exception for purely personal or household use. Sharing privately with a limited circle usually falls under it. Putting photos online publicly usually does not: in the Lindqvist case, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that publishing on the internet for an indefinite number of people does not fall under that exception.

In practice: ask the living people in the photo before you share it publicly, especially with photos of children.

4. Restoring and colourising photos with AI

Since 2 August 2026, the transparency rules of the EU AI Act apply. What do they mean for you?

• The makers of AI applications must ensure that images which their systems create or substantially alter are recognisable as AI images in a machine-readable way. This does not apply to ordinary editing assistance that does not substantially change the image.
• Anyone who spreads a deepfake, an image that looks real but is not, must disclose that it was created or edited with AI.
• Anyone who uses AI for personal, non-professional purposes falls outside that disclosure obligation. A family member who restores an old photo at home therefore has no legal obligation to disclose it.

Two caveats. If the photo is still protected by copyright, its maker also has the right to authorise adaptations, and can object to changes that harm their honour or reputation. And apart from the law: after being forwarded a few times, a colourised photo is soon taken for the original. So mention that a photo was edited, and keep the original alongside it.

A simple checklist

1. Who took the photo, and when did they die? More than 70 years ago: no more copyright. Unknown or recent: be careful with sharing publicly.
2. Who is in it? Living people or the recently deceased: ask permission before you publish publicly.
3. Who are you sharing with? Privately with family is something different from publicly on the internet.
4. Edited with AI? Say so, and keep the original.

Sharing without making everything public

Many of these questions fall away if you do not share publicly, but only with the people you invite. In The Memory Palace, what you keep is private unless you choose otherwise, and you decide per room who may come in. That way cousins can see the photos without them being publicly on the internet.

If you want to restore or colourise a photo, read our article on restoring and colourising old photos. For the different ways to share family photos privately, read more in sharing family photos privately: the options compared.