Why Photos of Your Kids Aren't Safe on Facebook

Facebook privacy
Photo from Facebook
I keep my Facebook privacy status tighter than a screaming scrum of toddlers in the front row of a Yo Gabba Gabba concert.

So why did the entire world have access to my "private" photos of my daughter on Facebook?


Because setting your Facebook status to private and marking every single category "friends only" aren't enough.

Each photo album you build is automatically set to be open to "everyone."

Which I learned completely on accident -- when a non-Facebook friend mentioned the photos she'd seen of my daughter. I almost flipped a lid!

Want to change that?

Go to Privacy, then "Photo Settings." Each time you add an album, you'll have to go in and change the setting to "Only Friends" or "Friends of Friends" or whoever you want checking out photos of your kids.

This isn't the end of the world, to be honest. I'm not joining the waves of people "quitting Facebook" because if I have a photo of my daughter that I'm willing to show to anyone other than my husband, then there's little reason the world can't see it.

Remember -- pedophiles can see your kids walking down the street just as easily as they can find the photos on Facebook. Legally, they can take photos of your kids at Disney World or in the park because you've taken them out in a public place.

My bigger concern is having photos of my daughter taken and used by someone who doesn't have the rights to my photography skills (I am a photographer by trade).

Now that won't happen.

Were your Facebook photo albums an open book?

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