Internet (In)Security
Author: utbtkids4 Jul 2007
This post is almost like taking a tag from Poppin’s mom. Contents of this post are purely my views.
Starting with a disclaimer? Eight years of living in the US is finally catching on!
I blog anon because I am naturally more inclined towards being secretive. I like the air of mystery associated me. In general, I never tell any one what I am working on, I finish the stuff and show it off with a ta-da, even if the stuff is absolutely of no interest to any one else other than me. Even simple day to day things like what I cook for lunch or dinner has to be a secret. If hubby walks in and opens the pots and pans on the stove and asks me what I am cooking, I loose it.
Though I would love to show off my babies through pictures and videos, I don’t post baby pictures online because, I am not a very trusting person. I can come up with obscure scenarios involving any good thing! Also I believe that every child is entitled her privacy. I would absolutely hate it if 10 years from now, my children are using MySpace and posting intimate details and family pictures. So I am following what I will be preaching in the future, “If I can blog for 10 years without giving up your identity, so can you”.
Just a general question to co-bloggers who put up baby pictures. Every body draws a line at some point of time. When do you think you will stop posting baby pictures online? No snide secondary meanings associated with this question. Question purely based on curiosity.
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11 Responses for "Internet (In)Security"
Hmmm.. So you did do a post on blogging anon. I thought long and hard before putting pictures of poppin up. I did bite the bullet finally only because I live in India. Stupid? Yes. Understandable? Perhaps to one who has lived in the US for six years.
I think at some level we are all driven by fear. In India, it is that we will not get our due if we don’t grab it from the other guy. In America, it is well, a system driven entirely by fear. Fear of cops, fear of insurance, fear of terrorists, fear of overly-friendly strangers..don’t you think?
I don’t mean this as a criticism against America, just an observation. We have more natural calamities and terrorist attacks here, but somehow I don’t think of it on a daily basis, the way I did living there.
Maybe it’s just me. So well if I was living there right now, I wouldn’t put the pictures up. What if someone stalked my kids, what if someone deduced where I live based on the pictures etc.
I said the same thing to Tharini the other day as well.
As to when I’d stop putting the pictures, perhaps the day she morphs from a baby-faced baby to a recognizable child. Poppin still looks like a cute generic baby right now. Virtually like all other chubby babies out there.
Sorry a mini-post out here.
I would probably not stop, since I dont blog anon… or perhap might reconsider if the brat requests me not to when he grows a bit. But seeing his penchant for being a drama king, dont think that will happen..
As I had mentioned in response to Poppins post, my blog is anon only in that a a google search on my name or moppet’s will not lead to it, but one of the primary reasons why I started blogging was to be able to share stories about Moppet to friends and family scattered all over the world. So a lot of the folks who read it actually do know us. What I hadn’t anticipated was that I would meet so many more bloggers and how that is slowly changing the overall tone of the blog. I would hate to lose this interaction which is what would happen if I took it private – something I considered and have shelved for now.
I think I probably have another year or so of posting baby pics, if I’m blogging that long…!
this is one of those posts that I think I should lift right off and put in my blog. word for word. I like being secretive, just coz. and like to display what i’ve done after the fact. and I sooo distrust the internet (just finished saying the same thing at rdbans) which is why, other than K’s, I dont celebrate birthdays, anniversaries or the like online. the ‘fear factor’ has nothing to do with living in US – it is simply an understanding of how far and deep google can go….
Poppin’s mom my fear is not driven by where I reside. After becoming a mother, I have started recylcling better, hoping that my small contribution will make a change in global warming! Nutty huh! Thats how paranoid I am!
Kiran, Mopet’s mom thanks for sharing.
K’s mom, cheers!
Ditto on the cooking thing. I want people to see only after I put it on the table. Many fights have started with Hd because he peeked into the kitchen while I was cooking! 😉 And I hate it when MIL asks “So what are you going to cook today”. But thats another story! Anyway, I cant explain why I am this mysterious.
Regarding blogging anon, the same mysterious me wanted to do it this way. And I could nt resist posting picutres of the “most beautiful baby in the world”!! 🙂 no idea when I ll stop though. Probably I ll post photos occasionally once shes older and then totally stop at some point. If Im blogging that long!
Internet is a scary place. But then almost nothing is private in the world anymore. Have you looked at the street view in Google? But as far pictures, I would recommed stop posting it once they start going to school.
Uhhuh.. Looks like my comment didn’t come out meaning the way I wanted it to. I just meant to say that when i was in the US I was inundated with messages on how unsafe the internet is ..Google’s intrusiveness, US Big brother image etc.
In India, since internet penetration is so low, the media does not focus on these type of things. Since our perception of the world is influenced a lot by the media, I have become more relaxed here. Hence the pictures.
Nothing to do with living in the US versus in India or one place being safer than the other. You can call it naiveté or ignorance I guess !
well i post baby pics all the time and i dont know if things are going to be the same 20 years from now. i guess a lot of you have lived abroad and have different security issues like big brother watching.
i will go with Boo.. i think my babies are the beautifulest (!) in the world and i like putting the pics up.
an internet search only drags up names not photos and the only reason i would worry is an employer discriminating against me or my kids because of the blog.
the other oft repeated reason is child pornography – i am more worried abt child abuse – so i would rather stay home and take care of them than worry abt who is misusing their pics. for that matter i know a lot of photographers misuse pics that are taken to their labs before giving you the negatives.. where does it end?
so other than the simple measure of not leaving our names to be googled up, i do everything else and live for today… 🙂
and finally.. i dont know how much longer i will blog anyway, so havent really given it any thought. the day he stops looking like just any other baby i will stop putting up pics.
Very interesting and a palpable topic on everybody’s mind, even mine who blogs non-anonymously. Its something I wish to change slowly over time in the near future.
I have given some thought to how long I might post pictures…and I guess it will be when the kids get a bit older and the cuet stuff starts disappearing and the more serious stuff kicks in.
On similar lines…I have also thougth abt how long I will continue to blog so much abt their activities and the like…I’ve realised that once they grow older….a lot more rpivacy is required for their sakes. Will play it by the ear at that time, I guess.
Having said this much….I applaud you for your choice to stay mysterious. Your words do more than enough justice to the descriptions of the toddler and infant and you paint such a ively picture with just your keyboard!
Yadayada, Poppin’s mom, MM, Tharini thanksfor sharing
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