Being a shutterbug, I couldn’t wait to show the world photos of The Little Empress. The very first photo of The Little Empress was posted a mere three hours after her birth.
We’re definitely not the only family to do so. A recent article on CNN talks about a study that shows that 82 percent of kids under 2 have an online presence.
While the Internet makes it easy to share photos of your newest family member with far flung relatives and friends, the fact remains that these innocent photos of your child can also be a privacy risk. Here’s a few ways to keep your little one’s identity safe from the very start.
Use privacy filters. Photo services like Facebook, Flickr, Shutterfly and more have privacy filters that allow you to control who sees your photos.
Do not label photos with sensitive information. Sensitive information can include your child’s full name, birth date, birth place, etc.
Obscure any personal information that may be visible in the photo. New parents may want to rethink sharing the photo of their newborn the hospital isolette as information including the baby’s name, family surname and even delivering doctor may be in full view. Choose to share another photo that does not contain any sensitive information.
Ask friends and family NOT to share photos of your little one without your permission. This is harder to control — especially with excited grandparents — but (gently) explain why you would like to control where your child’s photos are seen.
BONUS TIP: It is popular on some parenting communities to share the names and ages of your children in your signatures. If you do this, use nicknames to identify your children rather than their names.
Back to Babies R Us again for more safety equipment, including one of those baby super yards. I hate to do it but I’m NOT taking any more chances that she’ll find more interesting things to shove into her mouth.
