Do You Know What Is Really On The Internet About You?
As I was looking on Facebook this morning, I saw that a friend of mine was tagged in an album, so I decided to check out the photos. The album was posted by one of his former students (who is now 18 according to her profile), and showed a bunch of friends at a formal and photos with their teachers. Pretty tame stuff. Then, I was able to see other albums, and there were photos of her drinking and of friends smoking pot. Instant red flag in my mind!
“Do these kids even know that these photos are out there for everyone to see?”
When I was on the hiring committee at previous jobs, I was given a stack of resumes and the first thing I would do was “Google” the person to see what came up. Last year, when I needed demographic information/photographs of post doc candidates, I fell back on that trick from back in the day, but went to a venue with much easier access – Facebook.
When you post something online, whether it is a photo on Facebook, a comment on a website, or some emails (found a few of my old ones) they are on the internet forever. They do not go away, and even if they are taken off of the original website (server) where the were once stored, there are still copies floating around out there just waiting to be discovered.
I have been very careful with what I post about myself and my family. While I do use the internet for sharing photos with family around the country, I don’t give out all of the personal details of my children’s lives. I filter which photos are allowed to be posted online so that years down the line they don’t resurface to bite me in the bum. Same goes for posting photos of my friends (especially those old school photos from high school & college). A good rule of thumb, don’t post it if you don’t want a photo of yourself in a similar position to be posted.
Talk to the other parents you know, and make sure they know that you are planning on posting photos from an event online. If that photo includes their child, they have the right to tell you not to post it, and you should listen.
Schools usually have you sign a waiver at the beginning of the school year allowing them to use images of your child on school publications. This used to be limited to the school calendar, but now it includes classroom, school, and district websites. You can opt out of these photo opportunities for your child.
From my days in advertising & public relations, I learned the rules for using photos, especially those of children. If a photo of a child is going to be used the parent or guardian of that child must sign a release allowing the photo to be used for a specific amount of time (usually 5-10 years). When you attend events at large venues, such as concerts and sporting events, your attendance at the event is your release for your image to be used. Check your tickets, it’s often on there.
Some images of you and your children can be used without your permission. Photos of the back of the head, or even a profile shot (showing no more than 1 ear and 1 eye) are completely legal and do not require a photo release. This includes photos that are used by your child’s school, scouting group, church, sports team, etc.
I am not posting all of these details to scare anyone into not posting photos of their kids. Just be aware of what you are doing, and more importantly make them aware of what information is out there about them.
Google your name on both the web interface & the images page. What do you find? If you have a very common name, you may not find much at all. However, if you have a less common name, or you’ve been posting things online for a long time, you might be amazed to see what is still out there.
As for me, when I Googled my name, the first link that came up wasn’t me, but the next 3 were (all on page 1, so I didn’t go beyond there). On the images search, the first row on the first page contained 2 photos of me, the rest were of other people with my name, celebrities, and other undesirables.
