Photos and Kids Online
So many parents post photos of their kids online. We discuss the dangers here
There is a well respected website called 'Kaspersky' that shares information about sharing photos of our kids online. I thought it was well worth the effort to try and help parents and kids by sharing this information.
Some kids have been subjected to being posted on social platforms since they were nothing but an ultrasound image. When parents share they call it 'sharenting'. One noteworthy point is that these photos can get shared universally and that photo will remain online permanently. It is extremely difficult to remove it once it is posted.
Based on a New Yorker study, parents who over-share will be responsible by 2030 for 2/3 of all identity fraud cases. Photos reveal details that help criminal types to identify the child and to find them too. So that should be enough to make you realize how important this is. Here are points from the Kaspersky article to consider:
Check your social media privacy settings. Restrict your posts to 'friends only’ and make sure that they don't have the right to re-share the photos.
Talk to your close friends and family about privacy so they don't wildly share your photos.
Check your Friends list and remove people who are not close friends. People you met on vacation who were quite nice, people who are friends of friends, and people you added just to be polite are a security risk when you're posting photos of your children.
Turn off metadata (also known as EXIF data) and geotagging for your photos. That means no one can locate your children using the photo metadata. Or ensure that the platform you are sharing from will strip the EXIF data from your photos. Read more about EXIF data here.
Don't include other data that outsiders could use to identify your kids, such as their full names, date of birth, or the school they attend. Using nicknames or descriptive phrases is a good way to stop someone trawling for identities - "my little Sprout", "our little Princess", or "the Incredible Jumping Bean" will stop outsiders IDing your kids.
No nude or semi-nude photos should be posted of your kids. If there's the slightest doubt in your mind about a photo, don't post it.