Real-Life Example: Picture of Children Filched from Blog and Made All-Too Public - 1,184 Views, 1 Comment
|
Previous Article « Tiny Free Browser Add-On Authenticates Email for You!
Read Next Article » Nailed: Crooks Behind the Scam “Expiring Auto Warranty” Calls
We’ve been telling people for years not to put pictures of your children up online on the Internet. Nobody ever believes us that perfect strangers will not only find those pictures, but do inappropriate things with them. Now here’s a real-life example of this happening. In the instant case, Jeff and Danielle Smith are lucky that “all” that was done with the picture of their children is that it was blown up bigger than lifesize, and used in an advertisement half-way around the world. The Missouri couple is also very lucky that they just happened to have a friend visiting in Czechoslovakia, as it was in the Czech capital of Prague that their children ended up as, quite literally, the poster children for a Czech grocery store. The Smiths’ friend was driving through Prague, when he caught sight of a sign in a store window featuring the smiling - and familiar - faces of a happy couple and their two children. Recognizing the picture as that which had adorned his friends Jeff and Danielle Smiths’ Christmas card that last Christmas - and which Danielle had also posted to her blog - he quickly snapped a picture of the sign and sent it to the Smiths. Merry Christmas!: Buy Food!: Said a shocked Danielle, whose blog and own account of the incident are here, “It’s a life-size picture in a grocery store window in Prague - my Christmas card photo!” adding that “This story doesn’t frighten me, but the potential frightens me.” The owner of the store has offered to apologize, and remove the photo. He claims that he thought it was “computer generated” artwork. For their part, the Smiths have said that they will add an identifying mark - such as a watermark - to any pictures they post online from now on. Of course, our advice would be that they don’t post those pictures at all. Especially now that people know where to find them (and even the names of the children are out there). The potential is very frightening indeed.
Follow Anne on Twitter
Friend Anne on Facebook
Real-Life Example: Picture of Children Filched from Blog and Made All-Too Public
Twitter Explained in Plain English
Previous Article « Tiny Free Browser Add-On Authenticates Email for You!
Read Next Article » Nailed: Crooks Behind the Scam “Expiring Auto Warranty” Calls
Read more:
» State of Virginia to Require Internet Safety Classes in Public Schools
» Single Fathers Treated Like 2nd Class Citizens
For additional similar stories check out our archives on Around the World, Privacy, Security
NOTE: We never, ever, ever will recommend any product or service on this site that we have not regularly used ourselves and do not wholeheartedly believe in. That said, in some cases after being very pleased with a product or service, we may enter into a relationship with the provider of that product or service such that if someone purchases that product or service based on our recommendation, we may get a small payment. Such payments go towards the upkeep of the Internet Patrol.
I suggest that they not venture outside their homes too. The potential for getting hit by a bus while crossing the street is very frightening indeed. Even if they stop blogging altogether!
Comment by Craig Hughes — 6/15/2009 @ 10:02 am