Things I Don't Need To Do: Post Pictures Of My Daughter Online

This post may meet with some disagreement.  I'm okay with that, because I've considered this issue carefully.  As I continue this blog, I intend to learn more about blogging and add some bells and whistles.  In other words, I might actually figure out what I'm doing when it comes to design and visual interest. However, you won't ever see clear facial shots of my daughter.  I understand that photos add a great deal to a blog.  They're interesting and keep us connected to the author of the blog.  They make the author seem real.  I plan to add photos and lots of them, but not of my daughter and here's why:

Many moons ago, when I was a graduate student in Library and Information Science, one of my professors gave a detailed lesson on how digital photos can be altered.  Apparently, in the seedy world of child pornography, new is exciting.  If there are no new photos of children in horrifically compromising positions, new ones can be created.  Anyone who wanted to could copy a photo of my daughter from my blog, alter it and put her face on a different photo-- one in which a child is being abused.  No thank you.

I've been in some discussions about this issue on other blogs and was told by a blogger that anyone could take a photo of her child in public without her knowledge and do the same thing.  The blogger used this as justification for posting photos on her site.  Fine, have at it.  I know that I can't control everything that happens to my child. However, there's a big difference between someone secretly photographing my child and me posting photos galore for the taking. 

I think that blogger sometimes feel protected because "not that many people know about the blog" or it's for "family only."  Check out this post on Want What You Have, one of my favorite blogs.  People are out there looking for pictures of children.  Heather, the author of this blog, has found an approach for dealing with those seeking inappropriate pictures of children.  I respect and admire her a great deal and offer her solution to those of you who prefer to post family photos.  I have just decided that I will not take any chances with photographs of my daughter.   No offense to anyone.  Please make your own decisions.  I'm pretty clear about the one I've made.