Some children have 1,000 photographs of them circulating on social networks before their fifth birthday. Photographs that many parents upload without control and without being aware of the security and legal problems that this fact can cause.
Leaving aside the issue of child safety, and of which we have already spoken several times, What legal aspects can have the fact of uploading photographs of our children to social networks? An expert lawyer on the subject, clarifies all doubts.
We have interviewed María Sánchez, mother of three children, lawyer and blogger, about the right to privacy of minors and the legal aspects surrounding the publication of photos and videos of our children on social networks.
You can report us for violating your right to privacy
The right to privacy is a fundamental, personal and exclusive right that corresponds to each person. In the case of our children, it is only up to them, not us as parents.
"Parents, as ostentators of the parental rights of our children, have a duty to safeguard this right and protect it until they reach the age of majority"But that the Law protects us to make decisions for them, does not mean that we are exempt from responsibility for what they may feel or consider in the future if we have decided to hang their lives on our social networks.
So that, If our children believe that we have harmed them in some way by uploading photographs to the InternetThey may, in the future, ask for explanations at best, or take legal action, at the worst.
What legal consequences does uploading a photograph to the Internet?
The moment we upload a picture of our children to social networks we will be at the mercy of the policy that this social network has on the photo we upload. For example, on Facebook we are giving up the rights to that image and, in general, the rest of the social networks usually do the same.
When we upload a photo to the Internet we stop being in control. Then we can ask for explanations to those who use it improperly or even demand them, but at the outset, we lose control over that graphic material. And that must be taken into account.
There is countries that are taking serious action to prevent parents from uploading photographs of children to networks. In France, for example, the law establishes fines of up to 45,000 euros and even penalties of one year in prison for violating the right to privacy of minors by sharing their photos on the Internet.
On the other hand, our children may consider in the future that their photographs that we innocently share on the Internet can harm them. In this sense, we all remember the case of the Austrian girl who denounced her parents because, in her words "they had ruined her life" by uploading more than 500 photographs of her childhood to Facebook. It seems that it offended him to see certain photographs and for that reason he demanded.
What is the fingerprint?
"The fingerprint is the identity of our children that we are building on the Internet as we upload information or videos of yours with your name"This information stays in the cloud forever, and when someone does a search on the Internet with the name of our child - now or in 20 years - what we have been building will appear; that is his digital reputation.
And this is something extremely important, although at first it may seem like a banal issue. But in the future, when our child requests to enter a university or go to access a job, certain photographs that we have been able to hang from your life could harm you.
There is a way to erase a person's fingerprint but it has a drawback and that is that Google will only delete search results from the country from which it is requested. That is, if we live in Spain and want to erase our fingerprint we will only get it for searches that are made from this country, but if someone looks for information from us outside of Spain they will still find results
So, it is best not to upload photos of children to the Internet?
"I don't want to get alarmed or say with all this that we don't have to upload a photograph of the children to the Internet, but I do take care how we do it."Me personally, when I upload photos of my children I protect their identity and do not give their names, locations, school where they study or any other personal data. In addition, I try to physically not see their faces. I do it out of prudence.
If we still want to upload photographs of our children to the Internet, what I would recommend is that they let's ask your opinion first and ask for permission. Obviously, when they are babies or in the womb that cannot be done, I always advocate to protect their privacy as much as possible.
And what will happen when they can upload their own photos?
The Spanish Professional Privacy Association recalls that before the age of 14, we are the parents who decide on the image of minors on the Internet, but from that moment it is already the child who can do it, although parents have the last word and we must always ensure their safety.
IStock Photos
Acknowledgments María Sánchez, author of the Madres Cabreadas blog
In Babies and More 1000 photographs of our children circulate on the internet (and without control) before they turn five, "Pedophiles use social networks to contact children." Interview with Carlos Igual, Captain of the Civil Guard, It has already happened: your son could denounce you for the photos you publish now that he is still a baby, If you live in France, your son can denounce you for posting photos of him on social networks
