Just in case you needed a reason to NOT post photos of your children online, take a look at this news article from August 2009! A Massachusetts mum finds out someone is using her baby in an adoption scam.
I recommend using a free or premium service like photobucket or flickr to host your photo’s as you can control the privacy settings. However, as much as many people don’t like or trust facebook, they can be used to securely (as secure as anything ever is on the Internet) host your flicks. Just remember that there are 22 privacy settings to date so be mindful to go through all your privacy settings.
If using wordpress or blogger you can also upload your photo’s but post them in a password protected post.
It may not be of great concern if your photo’s aren’t direct head shots of your children… it’s up for you to decide. But please, just be careful and deliberate about all that you do on the Internet.
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About Susan
Hi Susan,
yes, I’ve been thinking of this too.
I saw one blogger use a caption across her photos to say it belonged to her or something to that effect, would that work do you think if I did that on my blog?
I’m not technically or internet savvy as you so would appreciate your answer:)
thanks
Rosemary
Actually Rosemary whilst this is a good idea and practice, it isn’t enough to protect the images of our children. The people who steal images of children have no morals so they simply aren’t going to abide by a notice on a blog. (And your daughter is *gorgeous*… really pretty. Please take a look over at Joi’s blog. She used to have a photo blog but some of her images were ‘lifted’, used in a professional manner and then sold back to her!!! Really, you just have to read her plight!
http://beyondbluestockings.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/a-word-about-urban-daisy/
It’s up to each individual family to make the decision that they see best for them. If in doubt, do a little research on the topic and then ask your hubby. if he doesn’t know, just gently let him know that you’ve been researching the issue lately and would really love his input. I do have a few images of my children on the Internet… but I know where they are and what they are about. Just be aware that image thieves don’t much care about your morals or policies.
Thanks Susan. I just had a look at Joi’s site! wow! that is terrible!
Thanks about your compliments about my dd. To me she is my dd and I don’t think too much about her looks when I post pics of her. But others truly comment on her looks continually irl , so I will definitely be acting on this issue very soon after talking to dh etc. I would hate to have her pics stolen as well!
Thank you SO much for this!
blessings
Rosemary
For those people who are using facebook, here is a little app that checks your privacy settings for you. Just follow the prompts.
http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/facebook
oh wow! I have thought about doing this on my photos with watermarks. http://www.developertutorials.com/tutorials/photoshop/making-your-own-watermark-with-photoshop-8-03-07/page1.html
I don’t know if that would be enough. And then it is extra work…..