Imagine the following scene: you are checking the 'likes' on your Instagram profile, yes in the one in which you publish (almost) daily photos of your baby. You notice that the last images that you have uploaded are being valued positively by another user; and one thing leads to another, who does not browse the profiles of their 'friends' on the Internet? What happens next causes you a feeling of surprise, well no ... it worries you, perhaps it also scares you a little; you actually get to feel all those things when you see that person has the photos of your son / daughter on it, as if they were his own. Ah but…! Wasn't it all just made up in terms of aberrant network behavior? It seems not, and what remains for us to see!
I have not seen the previous scene in a fiction film, and I have not dreamed of it, much less I have invented it because I enjoy these things. It is totally real: The practice is known as digital kidnapping., and in the United States the number of cases is increasing. I'm very sorry to be telling you, I hate that people are 'losing the north' and allow ourselves to misuse photos and other people's content, although on the other hand I am forced to know it, for my own good and mine.
For a father it would be horrible if his son had been kidnapped, without being able to protect him, and without knowing what is happening to him; it will surely be one of the most harrowing experiences. Wouldn't we feel something similar if the photos of the children were kidnapped? I acknowledge that I had never read about this, nor did I know that the situation could still get worse when the hijackers' accounts are specifically set up in order to encourage other users to participate in this kind of role play.
New identities are invented for children, things are told about them (which may be fictitious), and they are shared using hashtags such as #babyrp (baby role playing), #adoptionrp, #orphanrp; a quick search according to these criteria, can offer you more than 50.000 entries. Photos of toddlers and babies are often included, without their real parents giving permission, because they don't even know!
But why?
The behavior strikes me as extremely unhealthy, and even more so if I know that among the participants in this kind of game, roles are divided: the one who offers the baby, the one who wants to be its adopter (what a horror!); I have read that such behaviors are not illegal, but it is a problem to measure the importance of things based on legality, and not ethics. Also, what about privacy? I will talk about this below when I detail the ways you have to avoid these events.
However, the media consulted indicate that some participants / players may come to realize sexual fantasies using these photos, which is precisely the fear that we would have if it happened to us. And now, before you go running to delete the photos of your children in your accounts (5 or 10 more minutes does not mean anything to you), read below.
This we have to stop
The Internet has changed our lives, and we have to think that for the better, but it will only be so if we act with caution regarding our own content, with respect for others, and with the responsibility of being able to act against inappropriate content. You will know, and if I do not tell you: You have the possibility of interacting through the services that the platforms (read Social Networks) allow you to control your personal information.
From the material of a course that I finished this summer, and related to ICT risk management, I will paste you below a phrase that calls for reflection:
The lack of privacy on the Internet is a reality that is already changing everyone's lives, creating victims and having very serious consequences for people who, without knowing it, have made their lives public. Thus, the terms of citizenship and social life have changed rapidly in the digital age, observing a trend towards the use of public forms as the default modality in the face of a decrease in the use of private communication strategies
Stay with the end: we are ceasing to have a private citizenship and social life to become public, have we weighed before the cost that this may have? We really like to expose the private life of our children (as if it were our own) and we love having 20 comments saying: 'how beautiful your girl!', 'what a nice baby!'… the ego traps us and takes us where it wants. On the other hand, it is natural to want to talk about them, but it is not the same that you tell your best friend on the phone, or the neighbor on the balcony, than to drop it on your wall (and I do not excuse myself). As it is not the same to tell a problem about your girl with her classmates to seek advice, than to do it with hair and signs and in front of 400 people! It is to think about it.
Safety recommendations
Do not post photos of your children and do not make private comments about them. But if this seems exaggerated:
- Configure the privacy options in your profile RIGHT, and review these settings periodically.
- We are older so that they tell us: 'do not add anyone that you do not know personally', but you can have references about future contacts. The one who shares 19 friendships with you, the one who is a childhood friend, the one your brother has recommended to you, the one who belongs to an association with which you want to comment on a specific topic.
- Think before you post, think before you share.
- Don't forget that once you post a photo, you have no control over it.
- If you upload photos, make sure that no one could locate your child in real life (what information about you is part of the profile? Do you use the location function?).
- The images - if possible - of low resolution.
- No photos of the naked children.
- Download an application that allows you to insert a watermark to the photos, something like indicating that the photo was taken by you, that it belongs to you. This can discourage anyone who wants to appropriate the image, because it is treated.
- Do not share other people's photos without permission from the child's parents.
- 'We will always have the email', I say this because to share with family and friends there is that possibility if I have discouraged you.
- Make sure that everyone is who they say they are in the instant messaging groups (whatsapp) in which you participate and share photos.
And what is the response of those responsible for social networks in which they 'steal' photos of other people's babies? In the case of Dallas' mother Diana Patterson, Facebook initially told her that company rules were not being violated, and also the contact (fictitious name Figueroa) blocked her when she tried to make him see the inappropriateness of her action. However, after the publication of the news by the information media, the social network acted, after all the security measures are re-elaborated with some frequency, Why not do it with more emphasis when it comes to children?
Image– (the first) umpcportal.com