Taking photos and posting

them on social media and elsewhere is something many, perhaps even most, people do without thinking. They give no thought to whether they have the right to do it, whether they have been granted permission to use the image, whether they are breaching someone's privacy or a copyright or how it might make someone else feel.

The issue came up yesterday. I won't go into detail but I was asked to tell the administrators of a FB group they might not post pictures of items without permission of the owners of those items. It would have been much easier to do this if I was a member of the group but I am not. Fortunately I had contact details and I am told the photograph in question has been removed - reluctantly.

It's a shame because it would have been of interest but I can understand the reluctance to have it there.  If you are not a member of the group and cannot perhaps defend yourself or correct a false impression then reluctance is understandable. 

As I was sending off the email to the administrators I thought of all those photographs parents take of their children and grandchildren. This is almost always done without asking the consent of the child. I very much doubt my parents would have done this. Photos of us as kittens would not have appeared on social media if social media had existed back then. There are almost no family photos of us. 

I don't want my photo on social media either. On rare occasions I have not been able to avoid this but I try not to let it happen.  My brother and Middle Cat are the same. Their own children are old enough now to be of that generation just before social media became a thing. Their grandchildren might be there but in ways that do not make them instantly recognisable. It is possible to see a back view of them doing something rather than a grinning face. 

There are children who are going to be very embarrassed later by the images their parents have posted.  It's a gross invasion of their right to privacy. You can't own a child in that way.