The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has issued a warning to parents not to post photos online of their children on their first day of school without locking down their privacy settings.
AFP Commander of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation and Child Protection Operations, Hilda Sirec said images with children in school uniform, their name or indicators of their location in the background could be used by offenders to build a profile and groom parents and children.
Commander Sirec said the back-to-school period was a timely reminder to implement safe online practices.
“Children in their uniform on their first day of school are treasured photos in many family albums,’’ Commander Sirec said.
“There’s no reason why parents and carers cannot continue to take those wonderful happy snaps and post them online,” she said.
“However, we are urging parents and carers who are sharing those images to make sure they’re using secure privacy settings and only sharing images with people they know and trust.”
Commander Sirec said a photo posted online of a child’s first day at school could reveal a lot of personal information and travel more widely than intended.
She also urged people creating community and school social media pages featuring photos of children to consider the types of images they shared and who could view them.
“Some offenders go to great lengths in order to gain access to children and the AFP is seeing instances of online grooming starting from the information that parents and carers are sharing online,” she said.
“There are simple steps that parents and carers can take to have more control over who can access their images and minimise the chance of inappropriate contact.”
Commander Sirec said that if parents or carers were sharing content of children online, they should make sure their social media accounts were using the most secure settings possible.
“It is more important than ever to ensure parents, carers and our young people are educated about online safety,” she said.
Advice and support for parents and carers about how to protect children online can be accessed on the AFP’s ThinkUKnow website at this PS News link.
