[BrandyHagz]

(I am posting this message on the forums where we see the most photographs – in addition to the Community Directors Forum)

Members, there has been a serious issue come up in the last few days, an issue that I feel needs to be addressed openly, both as a notification and also as a warning to members who post and read here.

Anyone who has been a member for any length of time knows my stance on internet safety and like previous messages I’ve posted regarding that topic, this message will also address that topic.

In recent days, it has come to light that a member (with four accounts) has taken photographs either posted to this forum or posted in other places on the internet and attached them to messages posted here on the forums and misrepresented herself as the mother of these children. So far, this matter involves one member, and two other non-members who never gave consent to have their child’s picture posted by someone else.

This is a frighteningly scary situation – nothing is more stress inducing than navigating to a very large website and finding a picture of YOUR child posted by someone else claiming parentage.

Administrators, Community Moderators, Moderators and Hosts have no way of knowing or confirming parentage in situations like this…we don’t police attachments, unless attachments are brought to our attention.

What can be learned from this situation? Delete your pictures! Every member of this forum has the ability to self-delete attachments at ANY time. Please, continue to share your pictures with members of the site – but also, remember that anything and everything you post here is here forever…so if you are concerned about pictures of your child landing in the hands of someone who has ill intentions, please navigate to http://forums.adoption.com/profile.p...ditattachments and remove some of your older attachments!

Remember, the internet is anonymous! You can be anyone you want when you’re on the internet. You’ve all seen it with the likes of “Julie” the ever pregnant birthmom looking to place her child in outlandish situations – to JuliannaTeresa and her horde of special needs adoptees from (Insert what ever country board she happens to find interesting this week).

Please, I urge you to protect yourselves! Also, protect each other – let someone know if you think they’re sharing to much information! While sharing information is what the forums is about…it is NOT about jeopardizing your families safety and security in order to find support!

We are doing everything in our power to address the issues which have come up in recent days. A word of warning to the members out there who are perpetrating this invasion – you will be caught – even Canada has stalking laws and rules about internet usage!

[MNelson]

Hi Brandy *waves*

Pretty sick stuff. Is there any chance that now you are the "techno-honcho" that you could change the forum settings to allow deletion of attachments in locked threads? I know you don't want to honor requests to have mods delete them, so I won't even ask, but I figured that might be a way that would allow folks to take care of it themselves. Besides, I've never known a thread to be locked over a picture, so it's not like that is a crucial component of the history of it

[BrandyHagz]

Ya, I'll make that change tomorrow when I'm in the office. Because of the size of our forums, any changes I make could cause database/server issues if its intensive...so to be safe rather than sorry, it's best I do it when my SysAdmin is available

[MNelson]

Good thinking ... thanks!

[SummerMommy]

I think people do this just to watch us scramble and try to react to what they're doing. It's their 'thrill'.

Personally, I don't care if they use my kid's picture (or a picture of Mickey Mouse!). What does it REALLY do to threaten me or my family? My child's image is just a bunch of pixels with color information. These attention seekers don't know me in real life. They don't know where I live. And even if they did, they could still take a camera and snap a picture of my children and weave any fantasy they so desire! That's not the risks of being on the internet --- that's the risks of being ANYWHERE!

I'm not advocating an indifference to caution. I'm just hoping that everyone understands that people see you IN REAL LIFE -- UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL every single day! What you're sharing on the internet is just a drop in the bucket when you compare it to what you share when you go to the grocery store.

[BrandyHagz]

OK Plareb, I've made that change this morning - members now have the ability to delete attachments from closed threads.

[MNelson]

Thanks, you're the bomb

[Happy2Bhere]

HI!
Just curious about something-
I got my daughters picture taken at the picture people. They give you a password to go online to look at your pictures. If you try to right click on the picture- it says "You are not authorized to right click" It's obviously a protection to the company so noone can copy or download pictures without paying for them.
All that to say- is there anyway to PROTECT us on this site? It would be cool to protect it- so noone else could right click on them & save them or copy them.
Just a thought.
Thanks-
Melissa

[DianeS]

I don't normally post here, but wanted to give the answers to two questions.

One is "how does someone taking my child's picture harm my child?"
The answer lies in what the person DOES with the child's photograph. For instance, what if they take your child's face and stick it on top of another child's naked body? That would seriously harm your child if they saw it, or if a predator saw it and knew your child and assumed your child really did that sort of thing... An extreme example, certainly, but a simple photograph in the wrong hands can truly harm a child. And of course there is the obvious - these photograph stealers are claiming to be the childrens' relatives. What if the children find that claim later and believe it?

The other question is about security and eliminating the ability to right-click and copy a picture. While that's "OK" security, it isn't great. It's still easy to "Print Screen" and crop the child's picture. Takes an extra step, and not everyone knows about it, so it's a decent idea but still does not completely secure a photograph. And it can give a false sense of security to the original poster of the photograph, leading them to post things that they would not have posted if they understood the other ways of stealing a photograph.

Anyway, hope that helps. Thanks for the warning, Brandy.