As there are a lot of photographs of children on this site, I wondered if people were aware that there are some issues around putting up pictures of children. This is something I'm very conscious of because I also run a website for a church and am regularly told that I should not put children on the site, because that's school policy in some local schools. In answer to those questions I checked the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) guidelines http://www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/trainingandconsultancy/consultancy/helpandadvice/photographs_wda47845.html and work within those guidelines.
There are three main issues:
1) giving a photographer access to children when that photographer may be a paedophile
2) giving information for paedophiles to access children
3) use of photographs on the internet for child porn, either by photoshopping faces onto other images, or using the images as given.
i understand your concern but by point 1 i should keep my kids hidden away incase the bloke next door or the woman in the shop is a paedophile,point 2,there is very little information given with my opics and my profile,point 3, a bit like point 1,with modern technology just about anyone coukd get a picture of my kids while out and about to photoshop or use and i refuse to stay hidden. if paedophiles are getting off on pics of my children playing outside fully dressed then there isn't much i can do to stop it happening wherever i go
@sallycheese My argument about the website was that the first two don't apply and the third - there are far better photographs than the 200 x 300, 400 x 300, 600 x 300 or 800 x 300 pixel group shots to go and photoshop. However, I have seen one or two photographs recently on here that have made me think that they could easily be used and abused, and I would hate for that to happen to anyone here.
I don't think this should be a big issue. There are bad people in the world, but unless someone is posting a lot of personal information I don't see why pictures of children should be a big deal. A huge majority of children who are sexually abused are victims of someone they know and trust, not an anonymous stranger. While there are of course outliers, I don't think posting anonymous photos of children is going to cause damage.
Hi Shanne. It's a tough one, but I spend a lot of time with my kids and therefore end up taking lots of photos of them. I only post photos that I wouldn't mind anyone seeing. Obviously I can't determine what everybody may or may not do with those images but I feel I keep my kids safe throughout the whole process.
I once had a baby photo shoot and one or two pics show his little birdie during a bath scene, they loved it on the photo album and find it funny, but asked me if I could delete them out of my online gallery which I did.
Lesson learned: be sensitive to the feelings of your clients with regards to their children's photos moreso if placed on the web.
If I post a photo of someone elses child I always blur the face or put a cartoon face on their head. Just out of respect to the parents , and me not knowing their take on their childs picture being out there...
I work at a school and we publish photos of the children , only with parental permission.. and we only use a first name. Never a last name or location etc.
We cant stop living and curtail our lives to the point of no interaction just because of some sleaze out there...
as mentioned above, most abuse happens by a family member or close family friend.
When we teach our children about "stranger danger" we should also be teaching them about family members and friends not touching them.
You can not protect your child from everyone out there.. you can only prepare them and make sure they understand the rules of good touch bad touch
.
A ped can sit in his car with a telescope lens and take photos of kids at a park and photoshop into a "porn scene" do we stop our children from going to the parks?
@shanne I understand your concerns Shanne and im very paranoid about posting pics of Joseph, i have only every posted shots of his face. Im studying law and i also work for Victim Support and this has made me very aware of child safety. I would never ever take pics of another child and post them on 365 ( not even my family). I so see some pics on here and i feel a slight panic in my tummy but i put that down to the work that i do and the harsh reality of what i see/hear on a daily basis. I do however think its up to the individual, and i do understand that sometimes we can take a pic that makes us think wow and want to post it. I see the most beautiful child shots on 365 and im fully aware that my judgement is clouded in this area and i think in terms of criminal activity and not of the pure joy of seeing a child full of innocence and joy.. Its a sad world we live in when we have to think this way :(
I really wasn't trying to stop anyone posting pictures of children, and the vast majority of the shots of children on here don't cause me any pause for thought, but there have been one or two recently that have made me feel uncomfortable - but I'm another person who has probably had too much training in child protection.
Thank you for that link - knowing people do misuse images is difficult - knowing what to avoid helps.
Last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the church hall, and looking back through archives of pictures from years ago was fascinating, but we also discovered that we had no photographic record for the last 10 years, as everyone was too afraid to take photographs of other people, particularly children!
I think there is a middle road, but an informed middle road, so thanks :)
Write a Reply
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
I once had a baby photo shoot and one or two pics show his little birdie during a bath scene, they loved it on the photo album and find it funny, but asked me if I could delete them out of my online gallery which I did.
Lesson learned: be sensitive to the feelings of your clients with regards to their children's photos moreso if placed on the web.
I work at a school and we publish photos of the children , only with parental permission.. and we only use a first name. Never a last name or location etc.
We cant stop living and curtail our lives to the point of no interaction just because of some sleaze out there...
as mentioned above, most abuse happens by a family member or close family friend.
When we teach our children about "stranger danger" we should also be teaching them about family members and friends not touching them.
You can not protect your child from everyone out there.. you can only prepare them and make sure they understand the rules of good touch bad touch
.
A ped can sit in his car with a telescope lens and take photos of kids at a park and photoshop into a "porn scene" do we stop our children from going to the parks?
Last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the church hall, and looking back through archives of pictures from years ago was fascinating, but we also discovered that we had no photographic record for the last 10 years, as everyone was too afraid to take photographs of other people, particularly children!
I think there is a middle road, but an informed middle road, so thanks :)