Public Picture Sharing and Internet Safety?

The picture is adorable!

What does your relative think is going to happen to you or your daughter? And how are they going to get to her? Is she going to be internet chatting with some creeper? (And once your information is out there, I think it is really difficult to rein it in.)

You can change your name on FB. I see young people doing it all the time when they are in college, to hide their profile from future business/grad school contacts. Heck, I made a profile for my daughter's dog so you really can use a fake name.

Still, I wouldn't be too worried about your pictures being out there. I don't see how that is going to translate into something bad happening to you or your family. People that harm children are usually people who know them or have face-to-face contact with them in activities or groups.

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It's a 2 way street wouldn't you say? You enjoy this type of thing, and post to your website, at some point it may bite you on the butt don't you think? Such as now? If you are so concerned with privacy, why be on the internet on that level? Why would you put yourself and daughter in that position? It's one thing to have hobbies and do them for ourselves, we are responsible for ourselves, but now you are involving your daughter. The name of your website alone, invites the great comments and friends, but it also leaves you open to all the crazy, maniacs with nasty habits out there. How did this person get a pic of your baby...how were you able to view it on facebook unless he is in your "friend" list or a friend of a friend.....I believe your relative is correct....you are inviting something dangerous. And remember, once on the internet, ALWAYS on the internet.

We're cosplayers as well :) I love her outfit! It is adorable!
I have to admit to a certain amount of paranoia but there is only so far you can take it.
My FB profile has no information such as address or phone number. I will give it on a one on one basis to people I know and that is it. We have a PO Box that we enter anywhere online when needed. We never use our house address. I don't post my kids' full legal names with middle names. I see that here all the time and cringe.
But I don't let paranoia prevent me from posting pictures of my kids. I know my kids' pictures have been on the web because of cosplay we did. I can't stop people from posting their personal pictures.
I don't think you are in any danger at all. I think people are over reacting IMO.

You can use any name you want to on facebook, as long as it sounds real. You could be "Mary Smith" if you wanted.
As long as you never share personal information like a full name, street address or phone number then I don't see how your daughter is in any danger.
The only "catch" is that if you take photos with a smart phone and upload it publicly it CAN be GPS tracked to the exact time and location where it was taken. But again, very little danger there, unless you are hiding from a stalker or are in the witness protection program why worry about it?
There are millions if not billions of photos of random kids online. Your child's photo is like a grain of sand on a beach, don't worry about it!

Pretty much the only pictures I post on FB are vacation scenery, for this reason :-)

This site has some very thorough advice for choosing the privacy settings that you can feel most comfortable with. I subscribe to the email updates, as well, so that I can be aware of what the current scams being posted on some of my friends' walls are >.<

The resources listed at the bottom of this article may also be useful for you.

http://facecrooks.com/Internet-Safety-Privacy/how-to-lock...

HTH

While I suppose there's the random chance that someone could see the pic of your kiddo, cross reference it with your facebook, search out your address on the internet, and stalk you and your child...well, I think it's really unlikely. I guess I look at it tihs way (and I have photos of my kids, with their names--not full, but first and last wouldn't be hard to figure out, given my name, on my fb, although my privacy settings are just to friends, only): someone I SEE at the grocery store, or in the post office, is FAR more likely to be able to actually do something harmful to my child than some random person in another state who is cyber-stalking my child. Yeah, I suppose it's possible, but really, if it happened all the time, wouldn't we hear a lot more about it? And, as far as photos being used...I guess on the off chance that someone thought a pic of mine was really cute and used it, I might be a little ticked...I might be a little flattered, too--unless someone's advertising using my kids' names AND images, I guess I am not even too concerned about that remote possibility, for myself.

Well, I say, user beware. You can put a picture, name, address, phone number, statement, etc. out there ONCE on the internet, and that's all it takes for that info to be permanently, irretrievably out there in the webosphere to be found by any & everyone.

My opinion is that if you're worried about privacy, stay off the internet. Even if names aren't used, if someone wanted to stalk or find you, they could easily do so.

If you're not worried about it, then who cares what ONE person says? How do you feel? You're a grown up with a kid, and I think you have to form your own opinion & do what YOU feel is right. Because we all have different views on the topic, and what I may do, may not be what you would do, and vice versa.

I would be more worried about WHAT people are using pictures of my child for. Think about it. It's not just other cosplay people seeing the picture of your daughter. It's a variety of people. Normal people, safe people, and perverts. I can't live with the idea that some pedophile could get his hands on a picture of MY child and do god knows what with it. Even if it's just for their "personal" use.

The reality of someone actually seeking out your house, is so incredibly small. (Sure, it's always a good idea to have your address private on the internet.) The reality of someone getting a picture on the internet for unsavory reasons...sorry mom...that's not so rare. I had a friend shut down her blog, because a sicko stole a picture of her daughter (playing the the sandbox, of all things!!) and used it on HIS website. His website was for the support of "man girl love." She shut down her site, but all those pictures are still out there.

My point, there is NO "safe" way to post pictures of your children on the internet. You have NO idea what the thousands of people do with that image. That's a hard thought to stomach. The not knowing if someone is exploiting a picture of my child, or if it's just normal, good people...I don't like that.

They make you use a real sounding name, but plenty of people change it. My SD isn't using her real name and neither is a friend of mine. Another person only uses FB for her cat.

What you should do, IMO, is consider any picture "public" even if you make it private. And you should limit the pictures you post of your child, even without her info attached. I am very careful what I post of DD and people are starting to understand that I won't post their kids without permission and I will ask them not to post mine. I don't think you're in particular danger from one image, but I would be more mindful in the future of where, when and what based on this. We attend some big public events and DD is cute so occasionally she ends up online. I just do what I can to monitor when and where.

As for public record info...it's out there. Not to make you paranoid, but data mining is crazy what they can link together. We've gotten calls about my DH's ex's ex before - thanks to the spiderweb of info that's out there. But you can help this if you don't fill out every field on every form. FB won't crash if you don't enter a phone number. Maybe you can't use it on your phone, but you can still use it. Etc. I don't have my HS, college, job, etc. on FB. Nobody I am friends with needs to know that info outside of our real world friendship (I don't friend people I don't actually want to go to dinner with). But don't worry about every little field because if you have utilities, it's in someone's database somewhere.

I think your kid is cute, and I can see why you posted it and I'd at this point just consider it lesson learned that things intended for one audience don't always stay there. So be more selective and move on. I don't think she's in any more danger than any other cute little kid. When she gets old enough to FB, make sure she leaves off info like her grade and school. And since she's 4 now, right, you can start to talk to her about things like not going off with people who say you sent them, etc. A 4 yr old should pretty much always stay with an adult.

I have all my grand kids pictures of Fb and anyone I am friends with can actually right click on any of the images and download it. They can call it what they like and do whatever with it.

The school has pictures in the papers, the school has activities that the public is invited to, the kids pictures are all over our school system and our FB pages. So if I was worried about all this I would be laying awake at night.

I have decided to always be watchful and to always try to have their best interest at hear.