I just finished reading Catherine Larson’s post on child exploitation. It’s not what you think. Rather, she is asking if what many of us take for granted (letting our little cuties’ faces pop up on our blog) is exploitative and/or dangerous.
Personally, I think it depends on the context. I have two stories, one happy and one evil bad one.
The happy story is that I’ve had one blog for almost four years. About seven people read it, some of whom I’ve met in person, and all of whom I keep in touch with. It does not bother me that these individuals see pictures of Younger Son opening his Christmas presents.
On the other hand, things can get really bad, even for those of us who consider ourselves to be Internet savvy. I had posted a series of photos I had taken of both of my kids playing in the mud in the backyard. It was a riot–they were both covered from head to toe! I wasn’t worried about their clothes, since they were wearing swim trunks. I uploaded the pics to Flickr, and then linked to them. The problem wasn’t with anyone from my blog, it came from other Flickr users. It was horrible.
I logged in one day and found that those photos had been added to three different “man/boy” groups on Flickr. That day, I made the cranky Flickr user look like Santa Claus. I don’t remember what I wrote to people, but it wasn’t very nice. I immediately changed the photos of my kids to private, except for some very generic birthday party ones. And I am now very, very cautious.
We definitely need to protect our kids on the Internet, because Catherine is right, there are some crazy people out there.
Hi Michelle - glad you liked the post. Some people post pics of their kids on the internet without considering the number of wackos and perverts who may be reading.
And as you discovered - it can be so dangerous. I don’t blame you for not being nice - I would have wanted to commit murder, had I been in your situation. And you weren’t to know that FlickR was a stomping ground for weirdos.
But some people are actually exploiting their kids on blogs and also on YouTube to promote themselves and I wish they could see how dangerous it could be.
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You couldn’t be more right. It concerns me when I see numerous “mom” blogs with pictures of their kids all over their blog posts. There’s no telling where those pictures could end up. There are tech-savvy perps out there who could use those pictures to try to lure your children and kidnap them. With some diligent detective work, weirdo’s can figure out where these children live, what school they attend. Geez, I recently saw a picture on a mom blog of her kid wearing the school jersey, advertising all over the net…This is where you can find my kid. It’s a very scary world we live in, and parents need to be extremely cautious about using pictures of their children online.
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I have always had a strict rule with all my Flickr photos, which is now at 2,851 photos. If there is a child in the shot I make it private, no matter what.
I am very good about adding friends to my list of Flickr buddies and when I tell people why they have to sign up they are always cool with it.
You are so right though, you never know what someone will do with your photos. Better to be safe.
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There are some wackos out there. You might post a picture of a pair of boots and some people will be really turned on. But of course, it’s a lot more sensitive when it comes to kids. Some bloggers won’t even post pictures of themselves online, let alone kids.
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I understand your concern and your reaction, I would’ve done just the same! that’s disgusting.
But if you think about it, they’ve done even more damage that it seems. Now we simply can’t show our kids pictures safely
and there’s nothing wrong with the pictures, but with the people watching them! that’s not fair, we’re losing liberty here. I think the solution is very difficult