Posting baby and toddler photos online
(This article was originally published in December 2017 on Kadi ja Beebid Facebook page)
Many months ago I started questioning how law protects children in terms of their photos being posted online. And I don’t mean professional family photoshoots or photos from their birthdays.
I speak of the nude baby/children photos. Whether it’s taken on a beach, during a water fight at home, eating on their own while wearing nothing, or bathing photos. There are so many ill people in the world, why give them the satisfaction and give your own child’s photos for them to take advantage of?
So I had a question – if someone else uses an adult’s photo on their social media, that could be identity theft, but what about children?
I spoke to web constable Maarja Punak, who commented on the situation in Estonia: ‘Both parents have the right to use their child’s photo until the child becomes an adult by law. That is not identity theft. It would only be an identity theft if an account is made with the child’s name and the social media page holds a suspicious value. But it is not prohibited if it has been done with parents approval. However if an account with the child’s name and photos is made by a family relative, then that can be put forward as a case investigation.’
I asked if there’s any law to protect the child in these cases, to which web constable Punak replied: ‘Child protection regulations state that parents must act based on what is best for the child’s well-being. Naked baby photos are not illegal, although the taste and ethics can be questioned.’
Where runs the line between an ethical and an unethical photo? Should we perhaps keep some photos in our albums and not share these with the whole internet? What happens when the child becomes an adult, would they be proud of their parents and the posted naked baby photos?
Here I would like to remind everyone to please take great consideration before posting photos of your child online.
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