Lately I have had some seriously weird and kind of scary online experiences.
It all really started last year when a photographer friend who did a shoot of my middle child, found one of the images (of her face) on a site that sells photographic prints. Basically they were selling prints of MY CHILD’S FACE *heart sinks. Can you even imagine it? It totally sucks to share images on your blog and then have them stolen. What sucks even more is that I am the one who put the image out there, it was a shoot that I had posted here on the blog. Never in a million years did I think someone would take it then try to make money off of it! Am I stupid to think that?
This is the first time it’s happened to me either. When I was in the wedding industry, I can’t even tell you how many times images from my weddings were stolen and used by other wedding vendors in their “portfolio” or on social media, claiming to be their own.
It’s beyond frustrating, it makes me never want to blog again-actually it makes me want to crawl into a hole, die, then come back to life and live on a remote island with no internet.
I don’t want to add “please ask permission before using my photos” to my Instagram handle. I just want people to not use them without asking first. Unfortunately this is not how it all works, and hiding in a hole won’t fix it either.
For now I have decided to not share too many photos of my family online. I know this won’t prevent people from stealing but it will make me feel a little better for the time being. As for the future, I honestly don’t know what I will do. Maybe I won’t show their faces? Have any of you dealt with this before? I would love to know if you have and what you think about sharing personal images, please let me know below in the comment box.
This image was shot by Rachel Castillero for the Fox and the Sparrow.
Desiree, what a shame this is a part of our online reality! I am sorry this happened to you and will say we will miss your artful, family photos full of insight and inspiration, but understand. I too grapple with privacy concerns and am much more of a follower than a poster for these reasons! Xx
Author
Thank you so much…I wish I didn’t have to think about it but it does make me think twice before posting which is probably for the best.
I am a foster parent and we aren’t allowed to post pictures of the kids online. At first, I was bummed as I couldn’t easily share all the details of these new little people and their moments in our lives. However as time has gone on, I’ve realized what a blessing it really was for so many reasons. We get so comfortable on our blogs and with our followers, it’s truly amazing the kind of information we continually put on public forums. When I started to pay attention to what might be out there to prevent bio-families from tracking us down, I was slightly horrified how easy I made it for people to find their way to my front door essentially if they wanted to. I hear more and more about people finding their child’s picture in some odd place that they never gave permission for. I post WAY less to all of my social accounts now and that in itself is a blessing. Our moments stopped being dictated by capturing that perfect Instagram shot and loading it. Without the ability to post the kids, I didn’t even mess with my phone and it has been so freeing. We never know, online or in the real world, who might use our information in a negative way and I’d encourage all parents to think twice about all the information we share on our public forums. It’s sad that it has to be this way but I do think it has made me appreciate my time more and truly soak in all of the moments without the pressure to share it online.
Author
YES-thank you so much for sharing. That’s interesting about foster kids, but I suppose it totally makes sense. I have actually been sharing less since and it’s nice to take breaks from technology:)