Parents are told to be careful about posting photos of children in school uniforms online.
School Uniforms. Image via Tesco Ireland
Those cute photos of kids lined up in their brand new uniforms could be giving away dangerous amounts of personal information, according to CyberSafe Ireland.
The online safety organisation warns parents to be careful with their privacy settings when sharing photos on social media.
Back to school photos can give away a child’s name, age, where they go to school and where you live, the group says.
Alex Cooney of CyberSafeIreland told Independent.ie that parents can forget to be careful about what they post online while they are usually more concerned with their kids’ online activity.
Documenting family milestones without adequate privacy settings comes with a word of warning:
“Thinking about what you are sharing in that photograph, you’re often sharing a name but also how old your child is, because it might be the first day of school. You’re revealing where they go to school, and consequently, where you live.
“If you haven’t turned off your geo-location settings, you could be revealing exactly where you live. That’s a lot of information to be putting out in the public domain,” Cooney said.
Cooney highlighted the digital footprint parents are creating for their children before they even being their own online profiles. She warned that predators exist online seeking to collect information about the whereabouts of children.
Cooney advised parents to share special photos with friends and relatives by email and private messages instead of on public timelines.
