Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The internet is supposed to be for "good", right?


I am really disturbed. Ellen from Love that Max wrote a wonderful article about a beautiful boy (and another girl) whose photos were pirated off the internet and used in a derogatory manner. I am not going to post the photos here. But the people who use anyones photo in a disgusting manner deserves the 7th level of Hell.

I am disgusted, quite frankly. And scared.

I put pictures of my girls on my Facebook, on my fundraising page for Children's Hospital. I put them here on this blog and e-mail them to friends.

Now I am second-guessing myself. I started putting text on the photos in an attempt to protect the girls. I use psuedonyms (for everyone one but myself, dummy that I am) to protect everyone I write about. But I am aware that with photo shop anything is possible.

I started blogging as a means of finding a community where I could laugh, learn from and lean on. In recent weeks bloggers that I follow, for my daily dose of comfort, have posted that they may step away, because the people who like to cause trouble have become too much. They have managed to take the joy out of our lives.

So what do we do?

Do we 'hide' from the jerks in the world? Do we blog differently? Do we stop putting photos out there for all to see?

If we say no to the above, than how to we fight back? How to we ensure our children's safety and our sanity?

I'm not sure what the answer to the question should be. But I am also not ready to hide.

11 comments:

  1. I have posted only a couple of photos of my kids on my blog, but probably won't again. I also don't use their real names. I believe the best thing we can do as bloggers is keep writing.

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  2. I'm not ready to hide either but it is SOO SOOO SCARY what people will do. I try to not think about it much. Also, who caused trouble for which bloggers? I haven't seen notices that anybody is stepping away. That just sucks. :(

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  3. And now...I'm really freaked out. Do you think I should change Tucker's name? UGH.

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  4. I don't want to hide, but I limit the photos I post of my kids. It's sad, though, because so many blogs are about making a connection, and sharing photos of your family is part of that.

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  5. I saw that article the other day. It is horrifying to think how easy it can be to become someone's target! I still believe that there are more good people than bad people in the world. I don't know what the answer is either. But I won't stop blogging!

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  6. I struggle with this too and my husband talk about it a lot. I have disabled right click on my blog, but, let's be real screen printing is still an option. I do use image numbers and do not use descriptions so they are less likely to come up in image searches. Watermarks aren't in my current plan, but I haven't fully ruled them out. I'd love to hear what other's are doing, if they decide to put them on the blog. Thanks for starting the discussion, Kerry.

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    Replies
    1. Tatum, your tips are great (like e.g. the numbers instead of descriptions). Can you tell me how right click can be disabled? I was thinking about doing that, too.

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  7. I am truly not ready to hide too, but am not naive either. Just despicable and deplorable what others out there are capable of. Not really sure what the answer to this to be honest and like you some of the thoughts running through my mind do scare me about all this. Just so sorry for what your friend has gone through and this really could as you say happen to any of us.

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  8. Ugh. I don't have any answers, but I definitely feel your dilemma. I don't want to stop posting pics of my kids because I like to share them with people, but...ugh, ugh, ugh...

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  9. Sadly, this is one (but not the only one) of the reasons why there are no pictures of us in my blog. It is really sad that things like these actually happen but there are not only good people out there.

    Have you decided what to do yet?

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Thanks for stopping by and letting me know what you think!