'Parents post their kids’ photos online despite knowing it may cause harms'

Agencies
August 28, 2018

Aug 28: Although Indian parents are aware that images of their children posted online could end up in the wrong hands, most of them are still sharing their kids' images online often without any consent from them, a survey by global cyber security firm McAfee revealed on Tuesday.

The survey, titled The Age of Consent, found 40.5 per cent of parents in India (with Mumbai being the most active) post a photo or video of their child at least once a day on their social media accounts, with 36 per cent posting a picture of their child once a week.

Most parents identified the following concerns associated with sharing images online including paedophilia (16.5 per cent), stalking (32 per cent), kidnapping (43 per cent) and cyberbullying (23 per cent), but many (62 per cent) don't even consider if their child would consent to their image being posted online.

"What's even more alarming is that a whopping 76 per cent of parents say they are aware that the images of their children posted online could end up in the wrong hands," the survey noted.

Mumbai (66.5 per cent) was followed by Delhi (61 per cent) and Bengaluru (55 per cent) where majority of parents believed they have the right to share images of their child online without consulting them first.

"The survey reveals parents are not giving enough consideration to what they post online and how it could harm their children. Posting kids' information may compromise their personal information," said Venkat Krishnapur, Vice-President of Engineering and Managing Director - McAfee.

Responsibility lies with parents to understand the implications of their social media habits/actions and the repercussions the child may face, he added.

The survey found parents from Mumbai to be most active with 48 per cent posting a picture of their child on social media at least once per day in comparison to other metros like Delhi (38.5 per cent) and Bengaluru (31 per cent).

More than half of the parents surveyed (67 per cent) admit that they have or would share a photo of their child in their school uniform despite the risk of giving away personal information thus paving the way for stalkers to get added details on their child's whereabouts.

While 55 per cent of parents only share images of their child on private social media accounts, 42 per cent are still sharing images on public social media accounts.

"Parents from Bengaluru (59 per cent) exercise highest caution and post pictures of their children only from private social media accounts, closely followed by Mumbai (57 per cent) and Delhi (48.5 per cent)," the findings showed.

While it's clear that parents are worried about physical risks to their children's safety, results indicate less concern about the emotional risks.

Interestingly, it appears mothers consider the embarrassing side effect more than fathers, with 47 per cent mothers admitting that they would never post images their children would be embarrassed by, in comparison to 38 per cent of dads.

To reach this conclusion, McAfee commissioned market research firm OnePoll to conduct a survey of 1,000 parents of children aged 1 month to 16 years old across Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.

"Many social networks will tag a user's location when a photo is uploaded. Parents should ensure this feature is turned off to avoid disclosing their location. This is especially important when posting photos away from home," said McAfee.

Parents should only share photos and other social media posts with their intended audience, it added.

Comments

Unknown
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Aug 2018

Sponsored survey I think. 

Ibrahim
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Aug 2018

How to avoid such threats..? Does a anti virus help from such situation? I did many times. How to save my family from threat

Ramprasad
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Aug 2018

Many people think that hackers, attackers, criminals use only big foots images. Wrong. They may use anyones. Less noticeable has more probability

Suresh Kumar
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Aug 2018

Should not post recent updates of your family. If you cant avoid posting on social media, then post after some years. Not recent one

Mohan Bhatt
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Aug 2018

People want publicity. They do not think about future threats.

anonymouse
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Aug 2018

This is the most uselss and senseless article i have ever read in my life .
Do you think a 3 year old or a 1 year old can give consent for the pictures ????

If you are at all living in 2018 , with facebook, twitte and instagram , you should know that nothing that you ever do is private .

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 17,2020

Benglauru, May 17: A garment company manager jumped to death from his third-floor house on Saturday, four days after having killed his wife and wrapping her body in a blanket. 

Manish Kumar, 42, gave a relative and neighbours frightening moments before committing suicide at AECS Layout, Kudlu Gate, Southeast Bengaluru. The relative had come over after Kumar’s brother called him from Delhi, saying he had stopped responding to phone calls. 

The relative, who lives in Hongasandra, arrived at Kumar’s house around noon. He knocked on the door which was bolted from the inside but didn’t get a response. When he asked the neighbours, they said they didn’t have a clue. The relative and the neighbours decided to break the door open. 

But as they entered the house, they got the shock of their lives. Kumar was slitting his wrist with a blade. He then ran into the bathroom and locked himself in. They followed him and asked him to open the door. But he ignored them. They had to break open the bathroom door, too. By this time, Kumar had slashed his hands, chest and other parts of the body. Waving the blade at them, he asked them to stay away. 

Even the relative and the neighbours pleaded with him to drop the blade, he ran out and jumped off the building. He was taken to a hospital but it was too late. 

A bigger shock awaited them. They felt a foul smell emanating from the house. When they went in, they found the decomposed body of Kumar’s wife, Sandhya, 35, wrapped in a blanket. They called the cops. 

Police found a death note purportedly written by Kumar on May 12. “We suspect he killed her on that day,” said a police officer investigating the case. 

Police said the death note specifies what made Kumar kill his wife and commit suicide. Sandhya suspected him of having an affair since he regularly chatted up some bar dancers he had met in Gurgaon and Delhi. She accessed his phone and saw the calls and the WhatsApp messages he had sent them. The issue rocked their marital life and they often fought over it. He then decided to kill his wife and commit suicide, as per the death note. 

Police said Kumar appeared to have spent the last four days at home, with his wife’s body wrapped in the blanket. “We don’t know whether he tried to dispose of the body or didn’t want to see it,” the officer said. Police couldn’t determine how he killed her and are waiting for the post-mortem report. 

Joshi Srinath Mahadev, DCP (Southeast), said the couple hailed from Bihar. “We are waiting for Sandhya’s relatives to arrive in Bengaluru. A case of murder and suicide has been registered at the Parappana Agrahara police station.” Another officer said the couple had a love marriage.

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News Network
March 5,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 5: Karnataka government on Thursday set aside Rs 400 crore to construct twin towers building with 25 floors here at Anand Rao Circle to facilitate all government departments to function at one place.

"To facilitate all the Government Departments to function in one building, a "Twin-Towers" building with 25 storeys will be constructed at Arland Rao Circle, Bengaluru, with an expenditure of Rs 400 crore," said Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa while presenting the budget in the state Assembly.

He further said that the road cross-over facility for pedestrians other than metro commuters will be provided through 24 metro stations.

"The construction of 56 km long Outer Ring Road - Airport Metro from Central Silk Board junction to Bengaluru International Airport via K R Puram and Hebbala at an estimated cost of Rs 14,500 crore will be commenced during the year 2020-21," he said.

Rs 1,000 crore budget each have been announced for the restoration of Bengaluru roads for two years, 276 Karnataka public school for their infrastructure development.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
June 7,2020

Mumbai, June 7: As the Maharashtra government has given green signal for outdoor physical activities under 'Mission Begin Again' despite amidst growing cases of covid-19,  thousands of Mumbaikars flocked to Marine Drive for 'morning walks' on Sunday.

People were seen wearing masks as a precaution from the novel coronavirus pandemic, however, from the viral photo, it seems that no social distancing norms were followed what so ever.

"Better call it marne waalon ka drive," said a Twitter user. "Still people have no sense of responsibility," said another Twitter user.

After nearly 80 days of lockdown, Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra revved back to life on Friday. 

Most markets, market areas, commercial and trading areas - barring malls or market complexes - reopened for business even as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray reiterated that "people should tread cautiously while beginning a 'new life' from today".

Meanwhile, of the total 82,968 cases in Maharashtra, Mumbai now accounts for 47,354 cases and 1,577 deaths.

On Saturday, Maharashtra reported 120 deaths, including 58 in Mumbai, due to COVID-19, taking the overall number of fatalities to 2,969, state Health department said.

The recovery rate in the state stands at 45.06 per cent and the fatality rate at 3.57 per cent, an official statement said.

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