To hope that all parents who put photos of their children on FB/Insta/Twitter end up getting sued . . .

[Harumphy]

. . . by their grown-up children for breach of privacy.

Children have absolutely no say or control over what is shared by their parents, or with whom it is shared.

My family member has posted, on her public Instagram feed, her son's full name, date of birth, and every waking moment. Now that information will be out there for anyone to consume. At best, this could erode the boy's sense of self-esteem, security, and privacy. At worst, the data can be used to commit identity fraud or give a stranger the information they need to socially engineer access to him.

And I don't care if you say that you get consent before you post anything, because children don't have full knowledge of the context of their decision. They are not cognisant of the whole range of risks.

I also don't care if you say your FB/Insta/Twitter is private. Social networking sites are porous. Facebook in particular is never private, and the data you share will never be expunged.

I think it's not your place, and it's not your right.

OP I am in the minority, as usual, but I DO agree with what you are saying. Whether something is 'your business' or not has nothing whatsoever to do with it being right or wrong or somewhere in between.
It stands on its own and I also think not enough thought is being given to the possible consequences.

People should have a bit of common sense. Posting pictures of your naked child - not ok. Constantly posting gazillions of pictures of your child - boring and weird. Posting occasional pictures of your child (even if their hair looks messy ) - perfectly fine.

There are many, many things that may mildly embarrass a teenager (not least their actual parents, in person ). Why should a FB photo of them as a child be so much worse? Parents have always shown mildly embarrassing photos of their children, since long before the internet was invented.

My mum took a photo of me looking very grumpy as a toddler. In fact I looked like a tortoise that had swallowed a lemon. She used to show it to visitors. I nearly ripped it up... glad I didn't now.

Maybe the scarf thing had a religious dimension. That would make more sense of the quote.

I actually agree with the sentiment. Me and DH don't share pictures of our children because I feel its an invasion of their privacy and I like to know exactly who has seen the picture. I show photos in person and I store them online I just like to control who has access. I also think people are too relaxed about security and give away personal details like DOB, address etc without meaning to.

I don't agree with judging others who do it though. It's a personal decision that parents make for their children and children can't make it themselves so it's down to the individual. I do judge a little bit if they are like sharons friend though!!

I've got a picture of my Son painting the fence in the nud on my instagram. You can see his sweet little 3 yr old bum. Rarely post pics as I know it bores others and actually rarely take them but I liked that one. COULDNT GIVE A FUCK if anyone thinks that's wrong. Not gonna live my life my a zillion today one chance that some weirdo might see it and kidnap him. I also know, know, know for a fact that he'll prob never give a shit about it. I know that because I raised him and I raised him normal, happy and carefree. Not like some paranoid android that would sue his own parents

Can people really not see the difference between sharing a photo album of your kids with friends/neighbours etc. and putting those photos on the Internet?

Maybe I should see my own parents for allowing photos of me in the papers when I was a child. And my school, for publishing my grades. And my university, for doing the same.

Anyone can find my name, dob, date of my graduations and my grades. Shocking.

OP you should work on your own issues before starting a crusade about the way other people behave when it has strictly nothing to do with you.

Another who agrees with you OP. I think it is completely wrong. I can understand why people did it in the early days of the internet and when Myspace, FB, etc were a new concept, but now? No way would I post pictures of my children on facebook for all and sundry to see, especially personal information about them. That's just wrong and frankly stupid in my opinion. YANBU!

Oh dear op, get a grip. Your pet might feel very sad being exploited on Instagram😂😂😂

While I think the idea parents will be sued is a bit OTT, I agree that those who document everything about their DC and regularly overshare show disregard for their child’s right to privacy. It’s not respectful of your child to post a clip of them having a tantrum, sitting on a potty, to share details of their medical problems or to give details of troubles they are having at school (these are some of the kind of things I see on FB). These people will say ‘it’s ok because my account is private’ but really it’s not because once it’s out there it’s not yours anymore. Also as your DC get older it will be a bit hypocritical to ask them not to overshare on SM if you have already documented their whole life online. No one knows how all of this is going to play out down the line and if FBs recent antics are anything to go by it should be be treated with caution.

I think people will regret how much they share of their children online in the future.

EVer notice that when the newspapers post private family photo after a tragedy it shows it was taken from Facebook.

And no, posting that "I refuse to give FB my pics etc" notice won't stop FB having access and basically owning all your photos.

Legal action would be bound to fail, as parents are responsible for reasonable control of their child's image/privacy in their early years. If not then there would never have been kids in bonny baby contests in the paper, or babies just in their nappies in nappy adverts on tv etc etc since way back when. The alternative is keeping them with blankets on their heads until they turn 14 or whatever.

Yeah, because my Mum never used to embarrass me with with actual printed photos of me doing stupid kid stuff whenever I brought a new boyfriend home.

Oh the trauma!

Seriously, worry about something real instead.

DougFargo that is exactly what I mean. A lack of empathy

you mean you have a lack of empathy? You should probably work on that.

Also you don't know how social media works, or consent, or privacy laws.
And you're a sanctimonious busybody.

I don't like pictures of me or my children to be on social media. I don't like the whole idea, I feel it's intrusive, and i like my privacy.

I don't do Facebook but I find other people do put photos of us online-dh tells me as he is on Facebook. Sometimes if someone's taking pics (say on a night out) I will say I don't want it on social media but it usually is laughed off or ignored. They can't 'tag' me though which is good.

I like mumsnet because it's anonymous.

Lol

Out of interest, do those that agree with the OP (like me) use Facebook (I don't)?

EVer notice that when the newspapers post private family photo after a tragedy it shows it was taken from Facebook.

I am older than Facebook (ouch! ) and they just do it to make their life easier. Papers always found private photos before social media, they just had to work harder for them.

Don't be so bloody daft.

I can see the difference between a photo album and Facebook OP but we are in the minority.

Many kids will probably be cool with it when they come of age but some won't (for a variety of reasons) and there's no possibility of giving someone their privacy back.

Maybe you're right DougFargo, and this is histrionics about nothing.

But what if you're wrong? But now the images and data are out these being used in ways we haven't conceived yet, and you can't undo it?

Whatever your motivation is when sharing about your child now, would it be worth it?

Mum showing an embarrassing printed photo to a boyfriend can't be compared to displaying an image on social media. It really is a different world now.

*are out there

Really surprised by the responses you've had here Op. I agree with you. Not so much the sueing of parents, but just the general lack of regard for a child's privacy and their inability to give informed consent to their entire lives being documented on social media.