[liberationtech] Sharing children's lives online?

[Carolyn Santo]

All the schools my son has attended in Hawaii required parents to sign 
forms allowing or disallowing the use of their children's photos, name, 
and artwork in their publications, website, etc.  His individual classes 
have secured websites for parents only.  They are only accessed by 
password and you must be invited or on an approved list to gain access.

I don't know what the standard of privacy is in other states, but I 
would have a big problem if a school published my child's pictures and 
identified him by name on their website without my permission. 
Especially if he was only 4 years old!

This was a great concern for us because we adopted our son in Hawaii 
when he was 3 years old.  He has an unusual first name and we were 
concerned about people from his biological family recognizing him and 
tracking him down.

Even if he wasn't adopted, I wouldn't want his picture and name being 
used without my permission.  I don't share pictures via blog or bulletin 
board or facebook or twitter.  The only picture I shared over the 
internet is a picture of our new dog and he was wearing sunglasses!

I'm sure that other parents have complained.  I'd probably organize them 
if the blog wasn't immediately removed from public view.

Carolyn Santo




On 1/8/2013 10:48 PM, Paul Bernal (LAW) wrote:
> Sorry to butt in, but in Europe - or at least in the UK - this would 
> all be subject to data protection law, and this kind of thing would be 
> very, very unlikely. In my daughter's school at least, they're very 
> strong about asking permission before any photos are used, and always 
> do their best to make sure people know exactly how photos etc. are 
> going to be used.
>
> Mind you, there's another factor that I'd want to take into account 
> for kids (though not pre-schoolers) which is the rights of the kids 
> themselves to privacy. Under the UN CRC, they're supposed to have 
> rights in accordance with their maturity and understanding, not just 
> their age - and those include privacy rights. Those rights compete 
> with the parents' rights - but the kids at the very least have the 
> right to be consulted on the subject. I don't know many places in the 
> world where this actually happens: the Convention on the Rights of the 
> Child is paid little more than lip service.
>
> Paul
>
> Dr Paul Bernal
> Lecturer
> UEA Law School
> University of East Anglia
> Norwich Research Park
> Norwich NR4 7TJ
>
> email: paul.bernal at uea.ac.uk <mailto:paul.bernal at uea.ac.uk>
> Web: http://www.paulbernal.co.uk/
> Blog: http://paulbernal.wordpress.com/
> Twitter: @paulbernalUK
>
> On 9 Jan 2013, at 00:55, Brian Conley <brianc at smallworldnews.tv 
> <mailto:brianc at smallworldnews.tv>>
>  wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Perhaps this is not the right forum, but I happen to believe it is. 
>> If we care to discuss liberation tech, we ought to discuss the 
>> liberation of those who have little or no capacity to choose for 
>> themselves, yes?
>>
>> What's concerning me today is a decision by my daughter's preschool. 
>> They blog daily with photos and narrative stories about the kids day 
>> st school. Previously, though technically "public" the blog was not 
>> indexed and very difficult(impossible?) to find without the direct link.
>>
>> At the beginning of this year they overhauled the site and are 
>> publishing the blog in its entirety attached directly to the 
>> preschool. That this change was done without discussion or consent of 
>> parents strikes me as greatly concerning.
>>
>> As many of you know, I'm generally one of the people saying that too 
>> often libtech activists are a bit excessive in their response to the 
>> forward progress of technology and social media. Am I out of bounds 
>> here? Is this kind of daily blogging of a preschoolers life not a bit 
>> frightening?
>>
>> Any advice from other colleagues, parents or otherwise, would be 
>> greatly appreciated. Though I might have answers for activists and 
>> civilians threatened with death or worse, this situation leaves me at 
>> a loss as to how I should respond.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Brian
>>
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