The Drs: Shocking Online Trend
The Doctors talked about the dangerous digital kidnapping trend and what you can do to keep your photos and your children safe. (calliope / flickr)
The Doctors know that parents love to share photos of their kids online for friends and family to see. But now, total strangers are kidnapping other people’s photos and pretending their kids are their own. It’s called “digital kidnapping” and it’s every parent’s worst nightmare.
The Doctors talked to Lindsey Paris, a blogger known as “Redhead Baby Mama,” who shared that two and a half years ago she noticed a new like about eight or nine months into blogging. She clicked on the girl’s name and it transported her to her Facebook timeline, and she realized that her cover photo was of her son. She scrolled down the girl’s Facebook page and saw that she was presenting Lindsey’s son of her own.
The Drs: Stealing Photos Of Children
The Doctors welcomed Titania Jordan, CMO of KidsLink App, who said there are users every day who share awful stories. One mother in Arizona had photos of her daughter uploaded to a child pornography site in Russia, because one of her friends on Facebook downloaded the photos and uploaded them to the site. He was also commenting about how wonderful it was to molest her every day.
As for whether or not it’s illegal, Titania said, “It’s a grey area.” She said it’s copyright infringement and everyone is protected under those laws. She said you can contact your local law enforcement agency to be protected by that.
The Drs: Protect Photos Online
To protect your photos and prevent digital kidnapping, Titania first said to know your privacy settings and update them regularly because they can change regularly without notice. You should also pay attention to what can be inferred from the photo, whether their school logo or a familiar landmark is in the picture. You should also be wary of checking into locations, because you don’t want digital kidnapping to become real kidnapping.
What would you do if you saw pictures of your kids on someone else’s page? What do you do to make sure your photos and your kids are protected online?
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