And, like most mommy bloggers, I think nothing of including photos of Isabelle on my blog. My blog is all about our lives - it would seem strange to me not to include pictures. But, recently, something happened which now makes me hesitate before adding a photo of Isabelle to my blog.
The lovely Hayley from Sparkles and Stretchmarks asked me one day on Facebook "Am I going mad, or is this a photo of Isabelle?" I checked it out and yes, she was right, it was a photo of Isabelle. Hayley had seen the photo on the Facebook page of a UK wide baby group, being used to advertise new classes in her area. At first, I didn't think anything of it, as I attend Belfast classes of this group, and my teacher has a permission form to photograph Isabelle and use those for promotional purposes. But then, when I looked again I realised it wasn't a picture my teacher had taken...it was a picture I had taken myself, on my phone. So, I quickly looked at the Facebook page for my class to see if I had shared it there, but I hadn't. Cue much confusion - how had these people in England managed to get hold of a photo of Isabelle off my phone?! Then it struck me - I had put it in a post on my blog!
I contacted the organiser who was using the photo and asked where they had taken it from, and for it to be removed immediately as they did not have my permission to use it. The response was very apologetic, and I was told that they had received the photo as part of a promotional pack from their 'boss'. They said they would try to get to the bottom of it, but I never heard from them again. So, I contacted the main offices and explained what I believed had happened - someone had lifted the picture off my blog and was using it to advertise classes, but that they did not have permission to use photos of Isabelle. The man I spoke to - who is in charge of the group - was extremely apologetic, and vowed he would get to the bottom of it. It was a while before I heard back from him, but when I did, he explained that I had been correct. Someone had seen the photo of Isabelle on my blog, at this particular class, and decided to lift it from there and use it for their promotional purposes. He was pretty horrified that someone would do this - especially as the company insists that parents sign forms to agree (or not) to allow their children to be photographed, and that someone starting up a new class should be aware of this policy, and be very careful about which images they use.
Now, overall, the picture wasn't being used for anything sinister. In fact, if they had contacted me in the beginning and asked for permission to use it, I would have said yes without hesitation. But instead, they did something which is actually illegal (it's illegal to distribute pictures of a minor online without parental permission!) and only for sheer coincidence and good luck did I find out about it.
It makes you wonder though, doesn't it? If people who are supposed to know about child protection with regards to photos are misusing my pictures...who else could be? It's a very scary thought. One which I really don't want to explore too much in my own mind. What really stunned me about what happened wasn't just that someone would look at the photo, but they would actually take it and SHARE it with other people. Who else could be passing round photos of Isabelle, and who are they sharing it with? And what are those people using it for? That is a truly terrifying thought, isn't it?So, it leaves me with two options. Assume that photos of Isabelle I put on my blog are simply admired by my readers, and nothing more, and continue to post them. Or, assume that every photo I post of Isabelle is available to the entire world and could be used for purposes beyond my control, and stop posting them immediately.
It's a tough one, isn't it? But, maybe foolishly, I choose to trust in the people reading my blog - even though that trust has already been tested. So I will continue to share photos of Isabelle, but the question of 'who is watching' will always be there in the back of my mind when I do.
Do you share pictures of your little one online? Do you limit what you share?
(Oh, in case you are wondering, I got a set of free classes as a 'Sorry 'bout that!' from the baby group, and the guy who dealt with it all really was lovely and so apologetic, as was my own class teacher, so it all ended well.)
