Online Risks about Digital Photos
How to Keep Kids and Photos Safe Online
Today's youth have cameras on their phones, providing them with instant access to taking photos at anytime and anywhere. Parents need to be proactive in teaching their children about how to protect such images from strangers especially when sharing such photos online. Peers and strangers may use these images in the wrong manner, putting a child at risk.
The first step is to remain diligent. Talk to your child about your need to see photos they plan to post online so that you can make sure they are not too worrisome or otherwise inappropriate for sharing. Remember, kids can easily and quickly post these pictures online and without getting parental approval first, they could put themselves at risk.
As parents, teach children that if they are using photo-sharing sites, they need to do so limitedly. It's important to clearly keep others from using such photos in the wrong manner.
What Is Kid-Created Child Pornography?
As horrible as this term sounds, it is one of the growing trends in the industry today. Children take photos of themselves in sexy or limitedly dressed pictures and then send these out to friends through text messages or online. Children need to know that, once such pictures are placed on any site or sent anywhere, there is never a chance to pull them back.
In some cases, these incidents occur as a result of hazing directed at younger girls from older boys. It's important to note that, if a teen was to create such a video or image and send it to another teen, that individual could be convicted of child pornography and labeled a sexual offender for his or her life.
What You Can and Need to Do
As parents, you have tools available to you to help you with these matters. First, establish some rules. Make sure your children (and you as well) never make private photo albums public. Whenever possible, lock photos behind a password for safety. And, use software to backup these photos onto a hard drive to keep them safe.
In short, parents need to take steps to protect children from sharing photos online. The best way to do this is through education of the child and that means having a long talk about the risks and the limitations in such actions. Most teens never realize what they are doing with such photos until it is too late.