Ypsilanti Woman Upset over Photo Posted on "People of Walmart" Website

YPSILANTI, Mich. (WJBK) - Have you ever heard of this website? It's called People of Walmart . People take pictures of shoppers and post them online so others can make fun of them. However, one metro Detroit woman wasn't laughing when her mom popped up on the site.

"You can't be safe in a store while you're shopping? It upsets me," said Melanie Wheeler.

I sat down with the Ypsilanti woman. She told me her mom's picture is on the "People of Walmart" website. The caption reads "A member of the Canadian division of the trench coat mafia".

Wheeler said her mom was shopping at the Ypsilanti Walmart on Ellsworth Road, but did not realize someone had snapped her picture and was shocked to find it on the internet.

"The picture's of … like the back of her right shoulder, so they were doing it … about stomach level where no one would see that they were holding a camera up to do it," Wheeler said. "She was upset about it. Her first reaction when I told her was I want the picture taken off. Can you do it? And I'm like no, I don't run the website."

I spoke to the night manager at the Ypsilanti Walmart. He said Walmart has nothing to do with the website and that Walmart in no way supports the website.

Wheeler said that, in her opinion, these pictures are different than those taken by paparazzi on a public street or sidewalk.

"The thing is if you take a picture of someone in public, they're in public," she said. "My argument is you're in a Walmart. We have no privacy shopping? … So, I could go into any store and take a picture of anybody or their children and put it up on a web page."

Wheeler said what would give her satisfaction is to have her mother's picture taken down from the website.

So, is this legal? Watch the second video to see what FOX 2 Legal Analyst Charlie Langton has to say.