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.

I think you're right about the security aspect, it is a worry. I personally don't use Facebook.

I think suing is a bit far though!

I agree with you OP (not that I think there will be law suits though!)We don't know what the future holds with social media. Today's 8, 9 10 year olds may want nothing to do with social media and hate the fact that their childhoods were documented online. We should all just have a little caution, a few pics every now and then great, the exact timeline of your child's life (which many, many people do) is just too much for a whole raft of reasons.

😴😴😴

Oh my God not their NAME and date of birth

I can't live with myself if my friends and family know my child's name

Mia1415 I'll tell you what could happen. Once you post pics of your children online you no longer own those images you no longer have a say in how those images are used. There was a case in Ireland recently where images of irish children taken legitimately from social media sites were found on a russian child porn site. They had used the childrens faces and superimposed them on child abuse acts. Personally that one example alone is enough to convince me never to post images of my children (or myself) online again.

BuntyII You make an excellent point.

In fact, you're right. Nothing will happen. I am being silly and I think you should share everything freely. I would love to know more about your children.

What are their names and dates of birth, out of interest?

For me, it's not about embarrassment, it's about privacy. I can't wait to get married and my very unique name which easily identifies me can be traded for one that blends me in with all the other common surnames.

I don't want my parents sharing photos of me because I don't want people I don't know to have access to them. I, however, can accept that everyone is different and not everyone will feel this way, and I won't be preaching to others that I think they are wrong because they are not this is just how I feel and thankfully my parents respect that.

I can't see myself getting worked up about pictures of me as a child on social media. But I appreciate I cannot know for sure.
I can't see my kids getting worked up about it either but of course I cannot know for sure.
I am too old to know and they are too young.

But I can't justify not sharing some pics of my kids knowing it makes my friends and relatives who live far from us happy, just in case they may be offended in the future. I do not sure random stuff or naked pics or embarrassing pics, but I do feel justified in sharing some pictures. I do not love social media but I do realise it has its uses in this day and age.

We don't know what the future holds with social media. Today's 8, 9 10 year olds may want nothing to do with social media and hate the fact that their childhoods were documented online

Or your kids could hate you for not putting them on your social media, stating that you clearly never loved them at all since you never shared a picture of them with your friends and family. You don't know.

'Share' not 'sure'!!

@Dulra you still own your photos once posted online

www.howtogeek.com/304037/does-facebook-own-my-photos/

This link is useful for learning about it

dulra thank you
was about to go on about it
if its on the web it is available to anyone with the skills.
the case mentioned in ireland is one of thousands if not millions
if you store anything on a cloud server-google,fb,imgur or your school pics,etc
it is not yours and can be used for whatever purpose owner wants.
add to that "hacker"gathering up stuff and its a cause for major concern.
examples of uses-not necessarily child pics but you get the idea

www.hackread.com/dark-web-hacked-facebook-gmail-account-sale/

@Dulra. OK that's awful. However the chances of that happening to my DS are smaller than the chance of me being run over by a bus tomorrow.

I think I'll take our chances!

It doesn't matter that Facebook doesn't "own" your data. That just means they can't directly sell it.

You profile can be scraped. So it will end up in someone else's hands, and they don't give a damn about the ethics of data ownership.

I think people who post like this have crushingly low self esteem, and feel sorry for them actually. I wonder were they held enough when they were babies, and told they were loved just for who they are when they were little kids

What a load of crap. I would suggest wherever you took your degree in psychoanalysis has conned you!

I respect my DC right to privacy and don't put identifiable stuff about them online. Approx once a year they give me permission to put a family snap on Facebook but that's about it. I'm glad they are cautious. The world of data is very murky.

😂😂😂😂😂😂 hilarious.

What terrible things do you think will happen because someone puts pictures of their child online?

In the same vein as people who won't let their kids wear anything with their name on.

It doesn't matter if anything terrible happens or not. It matters if my DC want to be private. It is perfectly normal to like being private.

i think its terrible and incredibbly naive to think
it won't happen to me

just the ones "hackers" are looking for

YANBU. I wouldn't want my embarrassing childhood pictures on the internet so I don't inflict that on my children.

@dulra whilst I agree it’s very bad that photos are used on porn sites in the way you describe, the fact that they have does not create any risk to the child in the photo. Or do you think there is a chance a user of said porn site might recognise the face of the superimposed child as he happens to walk about in your neighbourhood?

mrssnitch
it happens locally as well

You sound like one of those parents who try to ban photos of the Christmas Play or at sports day.

Again, we all know about the photos used by paedophiles. Do you ban your children from ever being on beach in a swimsuit where anyone can take or record them?

Its perfectly normal to like being private.
Not on mumsnet, it would seem.

Dough You really don't have to post photos on social media in order to "share with friends and family". It is still perfectly possible to print them off and send them to someone in an envelope ;-) Or just e-mail them.