Sharing Your Family Photos Online? Beware.

A recent article in the New York Times addressed the sensitive practice of posting photos of your children online.  Many parents find themselves using the good graces of modern technology, in the form of a digital camera and a Flickr or Picasa account, to share their family milestones with friends and relatives around the globe.  The article gives dual perspectives on the issue:  there is a very real risk that that photos you post of your kids online may be viewed by others or even stolen and misused, but the common fear that those photos might be used by pedophiles to harm your children is highly unlikely:

“Research shows that there is virtually no risk of pedophiles coming to get kids because they found them online,” said Stephen Balkam, chief executive of the Family Online Safety Institute. While the debate makes this crime seem common, he said, all the talk is really just “techno-panic.”

The Times interviewed several parent-bloggers who shared their personal advice to avoid having photos stolen, including adding a personal watermark to any publicly published photos on the Web.

Parents also warn that the biggest risk of posting photos of your kids (with their friends) is that other parents might lash back at you for sharing photos publicly.  ReputationDefender recommends asking permission to publish photos of friends, family, and others online prior to doing so, and if you want to monitor the spread of your kids’ photos and personal content on the Web, try MyChild today!  We’ll alert you when we find photos or personal information on blogs, social networks, and throughout the deep Web.