Summer vacation is over and it can be a great day for your kids either starting or going back to school. And of course, who doesn’t want to show the cutest photos ever on your Social Media. However, as adorable as these photos are, the RCMP says they're not as harmless as you may believe.
The police and the RCMP are advising parents to think twice before posting back-to-school pictures of their children online. While our RCMP say it's okay to post photos of your child's first day of school... don't include too much information. Photos including a banner with a child's name, age, grade and school tend to pop up on social media feeds around this time of the year. The practice may seem like a harmless way to celebrate a milestone, but RCMP Cpl. Gavin Moore says it's not without its risks. He says this type of picture often contains information predators and scammers would like to know. Officers are warning that back-to-school photos with placards or boards showing fun facts about your kid can have personal information posted along with them, and those details could risk the safety of your kids. Location-related details in the image itself could also provide information as to where the photo was taken and what school your child attends, police warn.
"Some of the things that we just want to remind parents of when it comes to posting these photos is to remember that everything that you post on here could potentially be seen by anybody," Moore said. "Certainly, we wouldn't want to share names, addresses, schools, teachers, any private information with those that may have dark-hearted intentions."
RCMP said some of the basic things people can do to protect themselves on social media is to adjust their privacy settings so that not everyone has access to the information they post.Moore said he encourages parents to use these sorts of situations to teach their children about the importance of online privacy — particularly since a lot of them have social media accounts of their own. "It's important to have that conversation that something that may appear innocent could have some consequence," he said.
Please share my blog and this article with your friends, family and colleagues – let’s keep our children as safe and protected as we can.
From CBC/Global, Tuesday September 5, 2023
Post a comment