 |
“is
it safe?”
A big reason why I started this site was to be able to share photos with relatives and friends, many of whom live quite a bit far from my home in scenic Convenient-to-Nowhere, Maryland. A question I had to ponder was whether or not it’s safe to post pictures of my children online. I know plenty of families that don’t post their kids’ pics on the ‘net, or who do so only after inserting a “robot exclusion protocol” on their site to keep out the “spiders” and other web-searching software. Other people—I’m thinking specifically of John Scalzi and his “Whatever” blog—frequently include photos of their kids. After discussing the issue with my Joni, we decided to put up photos of our kids for the following reasons: The pervs are out there anyway. The news media like to feed people’s fears with sensational stories about pedophiles and other pervs lurking online, downloading pics of kids and trolling for them in chat rooms. But a quick check of the Maryland Sex Offender Registry showed Joni and me that there are convicted scumbags living in our own town. They could be walking past our house, driving by my kids’ schools, scoping out them in the grocery store or the park (and we don’t have nearly the number of offenders living near us that friends of ours in other parts of the state do). Keeping our kid's photos off the Internet would not necessarily keep them safe. The risk is very small. Despite the chilling thought that there are pedophiles and other monsters out there, the risk of my kids, your kids, anyone’s kids falling prey to them is small. Very small. Statistically speaking, my kids are much more likely to be hurt or killed by my driving, or by choking on some fast food, or by swimming in the pool, or by bees or snakes in the backyard, than by pedophiles. The benefit is very large. I’ve had someone else tell me that, “Yes, your kids are in more danger every time they’re in the car. But you can’t help but drive them somewhere. You don’t have to put their pictures online.” No, I don’t. But my wife and I have friends and relatives all over the U.S. and overseas, some of whom we don’t see for months or years at a time. By visiting this site, they can “see” us and stay in touch. Nothing wrong with that…. We’re careful. We don’t post our address or phone number online, or put up photos of the front of our house. We don’t list where our girls go to school, where we go to church, what our schedules are, or other personal stuff that bad guys could use. Before I post an update, I show Joni and the girls what I intend to put up. And they’ve nixed some photos (usually on the grounds that they didn’t like how they looked in the picture). This is a family site, and we decide as a family what goes up. Admittedly, being careful has its limits. If someone was trying to get to my kids, it wouldn’t be too hard, here in the Age of Google and ever-diminishing privacy, to use the computer to find them, seeing as how I have an unusual name. But again, the risk is small, and my wife and I take other precautions to protect our kids (did you know you can purchase land mines on e-Bay? Seriously! And they keep the neighbors’ dogs off our front lawn). It’s educational (and fun) for the kids. Building this site has provided me with a number of “teachable moments” with my kids, particularly with my older daughter. I’ve showed them how to transfer photos from a digital camera to a computer, how to edit those images, how to put them on web pages, and how to connect them all with links. We’ve also discussed the whole concept of the Internet: how it works, who it reaches, etc. This has led to discussions about other web sites, how to safely use e-mail, the dangers of viruses, etc. All of which is basic info that kids growing up in the early part of the 21st Century need to know, because this stuff isn’t going away. And the more girls who get interested in and involved with computers and such, the better. And besides, they like it. In conclusion…
Posted August 2006 |