'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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News Network
February 25,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 25: A smooth-talking ‘swamiji’ has come under police radar after a widow lodged a complaint stating he cheated her of over Rs 27 crore and three kgs of gold between 2016 and 2019.

The woman, Geetha of Ramamurthynagar, was staying with her three sons after her husband, a landlord, died in 2009. Her family owned several sites in Tavarekere and other parts of the city, apart from a farm near Bethamangala in Kolar district.

Geetha, who had got into property disputes with her relatives, said she was introduced to the accused, Nagaraj C of Bangarapet, who claimed to possess powers to ward off evil spirits, by one of her farm labourers. “I was assured that all my problems would be solved. He came to my house and claimed he had been sent by god and would find solutions to all my problems,” she stated.

Nagaraj allegedly pretended to be possessed by spirits and directed her to give him gold bars. Geetha ended up giving three kgs of gold in the process. Later, he began directing her to sell a few properties stating these were the root cause of her problems. “I sold many properties and pledged a few residential sites. He took Rs 22.5 crore that came from selling properties, apart from Rs 5 crore cash from my husband’s savings,” she stated.

She said Nagaraj took the money from her on the promise of buying alternative properties. “When I demanded he return all my money, he threatened to kill me and my kids using evil spirits,” she alleged.

Police have registered a case of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation under various IPC sections and Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill, 2017, against Nagaraj and others.

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News Network
February 1,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 2: A video of a woman rescuing a dog from a well in Mangaluru has gone viral on social media. The dog fell inside the well accidentally and the woman rushed to the spot to rescue it. The two minute seven second video has been shared on Twitter by a user, Mauna, and has ever since been viewed over 15,000 times.

The woman climbed down the well as other people attached a rope to her body during the rescue mission. Another rope was then thrown to her and she tied it around the dog after which it was pulled outside. The woman, thereafter, climbed outside the well with much difficulty.

"Bless the lady who saved the Dog," the user captioned the post.

Watch the video here:

 

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coastaldigest news network
March 25,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 25: In the wake of coronavirus outbreak, Nalin Kumar Kateel, Member of Parliament today declared that the coastal city of Mangaluru will remain completely shut tomorrow, (March 26) onwards.

"Today the people were given time to go out of their houses to buy essentials today. But from tomorrow, this will not be allowed," the MP said. 

"We are discussing with officials of all departments about ways to manage the situation. Essential things and facilities people need, will be delivered at their doorsteps. We are sorting out how to deliver the items on behalf of the government and mode of delivery of items to apartment complexes," he said.

He said that a large number of patients from Kasaragod had come into the city yesterday. Hence, the district administration has taken a decision, he said.

"Under the present circumstances, the hospitals in the city would not be sufficient for our purpose. So the administration will not allow any vehicles including ambulances into the city. All the ambulances would be blocked from entering Dakshina Kannada district at Talapady border and sent back," he said.

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