It’s Personal
“Privacy is dead, and social media holds the smoking gun.” – Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable
Image courtesy of Unsplash
Recently I was scrolling through Facebook and came across an adorable post by a former student. Michelle and her husband were foster parents to two littles, waiting for the formal adoption papers to go through so the children could become permanent and “official” members of their family. Their tiny faces had been covered with digital stickers and emojis to conceal their identities. Likewise, of course, there was no personal information about the children’s age, location, grade, or school - in other words, nothing that could identify them or point to their current situation.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has outlined protective guidelines like the social media policy mentioned above to potentially safeguard foster children from their biological parents and, possibly, to protect the foster family from harm as well. I was familiar with this regulation, as I have known other families, deep in the adoption process, who concealed their children’s faces for years, waiting for the proceedings to be finalized.
Spend enough time on social media, and you’ll likely see other photos featuring both adults and children alike with their faces blurred and concealed. Reasons for this online anonymity can range from a person who has a personal, moral objection to having their picture posted on social media to someone fearing for their safety if they are recognized, perhaps by an abusive, dangerous family member, partner, or ex-partner.
Not long after seeing Michelle’s posted pictures, I observed the posts of another former student who consistently and artfully poses her own biological child with her dark-headed daughter turned away from the camera. Jennifer posts beautiful, dreamy beach pics featuring her daughter in a darkened silhouette and photos of her holding her daughter’s hand, both viewed from behind.
However, no law or regulation requires Jennifer to adhere to this level of privacy; this is a conscientious decision she has made to protect her child’s identity online. It’s certainly her right to do so, and it is frankly quite admirable for her to protect her child from online predators.
And then I questioned myself on how many times I had posted pictures of my daughter’s birthdays, swim meets, proms, and graduations through the years.
Did she even want me to do that? And should I have asked her permission? And if so, at what age should I have started getting her consent?
Years ago, sharing family pictures and pictures of minors was much more difficult than it is now. But today, clearly, many people want to share their proud parent moments but are simultaneously concerned about the digital footprints and the exposure of minors online.
Image courtesy of Unsplash
“Sharenting,” or the practice of parents or caregivers sharing information about their underage children online, has become the norm in social media, with 92% of children having an online presence by the age of 2, according to Katie Haley in the Indiana Law Review.
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), passed in 1998, aims to protect children by requiring websites and other online services (like gaming) to post their policies and get parental consent for users under 13 years old.
In May of this year Democratic Senator Edward Markey and Republican Senator Bill Cassidy reintroduced COPPA 2.0, an updated version of the basic privacy protections provided in the original bill that would now protect young people ages 12 to 16 and their personal information online in an attempt to alleviate the current mental health epidemic.
Even with all of our privacy settings checked and double-checked, it seems that our children are still extremely vulnerable and exposed online and on social media in particular.
Just how concerned and how limiting should we be about our children’s use of social media? And how about our own postings of our children? Should we ask their permission? Should we go old school with sharing pictures of our young children to avoid their images falling into the wrong hands?
And who truly holds the responsibility for protecting our children online - the government or us?
