Sharenting: the hidden danger of sharing photos of …

Cata looks at her mother and strives to take the first steps. The camera captures its spasmodic and tender movements. Teo is eating for the first time. He has all the face encrusted with porridge. The photo captures a funny grimace. Manu is already a little bigger and some of his ingenious responses are immortalized on his father's Facebook, which shares every occurrence of the child. Hundreds of photos and videos about children are shared daily on social networks by adults in charge of their education. But what seems an innocent gesture to share the growth of children hides a risk: what happens to these images, where do they go, to whom does she have access?

The new phenomenon of "online parenting" has been christened "sharenting". The term comes from the English word share, which means sharing and parenting. To understand its magnitude: some studies consider that when a child is 5 years old, his parents have already shared about a thousand pictures of the child on social networks.

Specialists also claim that another alarming fact is that 50% of photos posted on pedophile and child badgraphy networks are taken directly from messages that are uploaded to the Internet on their own. "Do not forget that when you upload information or images to the web, it's no longer possible to control or delete them," they warn of Missing Children.

A few years ago, a Dutch company published illustrated cups containing pictures of children downloaded from the Internet. All were allowed to use them for commercial purposes, which parents often accept in platform conditions without any idea. The initiative had a big impact: the picture of your child could be in these cups. The idea was to educate the public about one of the risks badociated with storage. "Someone's boy in your favorite mug," This is the slogan with which the company was presented, which can still be found on Koppie Koppie's website.

The risks of non-stop sharing

The dangers of information sharing include the fact that children's images can be distributed on child badgraphy or child badgraphy sites, used for abductions or threats, and even allow theft of children. # 39; s identity. Besides the risks inherent in sharing, related to the use that a third party can give to images, The phenomenon also has an impact on the growth of children and adolescents, in the way they develop their relationships and interact with their peers.

Sonia Almada, a child psychologist and coordinator of the International Congress on Violence against Children and Adolescents, will be held from August 21st to 23rd at the Faculty of Economics. According to the psychologist, it is very common for children from the age of 7 to begin to express their discomfort with parenting positions.

"Adults show children in networks as an object. It sounds good and well meaning, but they do not think about their rights, they do not think about the child as a subject and the boys have no way to defend themselves. Parents fall into the narcissistic trap of showing the child as a feat, like a trophy, and they do not measure the risks, "says Almada.

The specialist specifies that photos that seem in principle tender can humiliate the child in the future. The same as amusing anecdotes, which can then be used as an object of teasing. "It's the parents who become enemies," he adds.

For Almada, the solution is unpleasant, but is the only one that gives priority to children: do not share photos of children before they are old enough to comment and decide their image. "Parents get angry when I tell them at the office, but if we do something that directly affects children, we have to stop doing it," he says. The psychologist concludes that a "change of speech and look" towards childhood is necessary for children to be considered as owners of themselves and not as the property of their parents.

A cloud that is not so white

One of the peculiarities of the Web, for which such trust is filed, is the idea that society has made it. The idea that the Internet is a cloud is a marketing success. What's wrong with a cloud? But the Internet is far from being this ethereal image. The real infrastructure behind the Web would be something similar to the huge libraries – the servers – that are full of disks, which are managed by people, that work for businesses, that monetize the data.

Natalia Zuazo, Technology Policy Specialist and author of Internet Ownershe explains it as follows:The idea of ​​the cloud is what companies are selling to us so that we do not relate to what is behind it. This pure white marketing hides that data is stored in businesses and that all this infrastructure has political importance. "For example, Zuazo explains that the Internet is in the hands of a handful of companies, all located in the United States, and that they are therefore governed by the laws of that country." There is a question of sovereignty to which we are opposed and this affects the protection of data, "he says.

In the photos that parents upload, either on social networks or on other platforms, Zuazo points out that we are facing a Big problem for privacy. In addition, for unknown applications, we know very little about the servers they use to store data. Just a few weeks ago, for example, the app to age the face and thousands of users have uploaded their photo on FaceApp.

"We are facing a peak of artificial intelligence and Artificial intelligence needs to learn from our images to make predictions. They need databases containing many photos, "adds the specialist in technopolitics. The biggest danger for Zuazo is not knowing exactly whether these images, which users innocently download to share between their contacts, will be used for other purposes. "Photos you share with companies that have signed an agreement do not belong to you anymore"add.

For Zuazo, sharing information raises two major issues: the right to privacy of the other person – "it's not me, it's my son" – and, on the other hand, the dangers to safety. Remember that much of the hacking occurs with contextual information provided by users themselves to the network, personal information that exposes security and promotes an "unsecure ecosystem." Despite the risks, for Zuazo, something is clear: "in technology, it is better to work with user education than to regulate more."

"We need to understand that if we have children until they are older, they can make the decision whether or not to show their image. you must expose them as little as possible. The image of each person is personal, it's as simple as that, "he concludes.

The right to privacy

In the same vein, the Association for Civil Rights (ADC) stresses that Sharenting jeopardizes children's right to privacy. Although the rights of children are often exercised by parents or their legal representatives, the Civil Code establishes the progressive autonomy of children in making decisions that affect their person. This legal approach, which puts more emphasis on children, states that children must be heard even when their voice conflicts with a parent's decision.

"The law on personal data does not distinguish between data of adults and minors. This is a flaw in the legislation that had been sanctioned in 2000 while social networks did not exist yet. In this sense, the law does not consider what happens in cases where the opinion of children is in conflict with that of parents, "says Eduardo Ferreyra, a lawyer specializing in digital rights and member of the # 39; ADC. For Ferreyra, the problem is solved by giving children greater participation during publication.

According to the lawyer, parents should always remember that when an image is uploaded to the network It is impossible to remove it completely later. Someone may have captured and saved for other purposes. Therefore, he says, it is urgent for adults to know what digital security measures need to be taken.

"We are not against a mother or father wanting to share a moment of happiness but we must be aware of the risks of sharing certain information," he said and reminded that lawyers and specialists in the field do not know still not how to "thwart, prevent and intervene" to stop the viralisation of images. "It is very difficult to completely remove what is downloaded on the Internet, so the most important thing is to make parents aware of the security risks badociated with photo sharing. And remind them that if the children are old enough to say it, you must always ask them, "he concludes.

Recommendations for the publication of images of minors

Eduardo Ferreyra recommends to attend the following digital security measures before publishing photos of inferior recommendations before posting photos of children on social networks.

– That the account is private and that the contacts or "friends" are reduced to real knowledge. An account that has more than 600 friends, for example, may not be secure anymore.

-Avoid downloading photos containing contextual information on places frequented by children. It refers to information that a school uniform, a club entrance or an identifiable street can provide. This data can be used for virtual removals or other threats.

-Disable the location of applications and phones.

-Avoid downloading images that ridicule the child. Something that in the eyes of adults can be enjoyable and fun can be fun in the future. Children may feel humiliated.

-It is impossible to completely delete a shared photo on the Web. By interacting on the Internet, people make a name for themselves and some photos can have long-term consequences.

-If the boys are old, always ask them before downloading any content about them.