A new decision...

Yesterday opened my eyes to a few privacy issues concerning Facebook. I realized that no matter how "private" you set your account up to be, your pictures aren't protected. I want my friends and family to see them, but that also automatically gives them the right to share or use my photos.  Allowing family to share our photos so they can be posted to another page, is totally fine. I trust my family and friends so please know this is not a complaint about that at all.

It is about not having control as to who can share or view content in the end. We all know that Facebook is sketchy at best. I love so many of you but how do I know your computer or content is protected? How do I know what your privacy setting are after a photo gets shared, commented, or tagged? There is no way for us to know.

I read an article while sitting in the ob doctors office yesterday about an 18 year old girl who was kidnapped. The Kidnapper knew where she was going, if she was with anyone, and of course what she looked like.  It was a normal day for this young girl who was snatched from her life in a blink of an eye. This family was hurt by a devastating loss, to which they replied to a reporter that the pain never goes away.  They have to just move forward and hope that their story would promote awareness. I teared up thinking, "What if that was our Kailey?", but she isn't the only one we worry over. Girls might be a higher target, but none of us are safe in that sense. I know protecting our pictures is impossible after you put those pictures on the web.  This is why we have decided to try out Flickr because we like the privacy settings offered.

Through Flickr we still post selected pictures to Facebook, hoping they will be better protected. I can add them with all rights reserved to us in a private way and give family/friends the ability to view them on a "guest pass" as long as we see fit. I will still post on the blog as well. The blog will be for more "special" pictures, not complete albums.

We will also be removing pictures of our family from Facebook completely except for the profile and cover pictures.  There is already plenty of information out there in easy reach, why should we add to the danger with low privacy settings and pictures of everything we do?

I really do like Facebook and being able to feel connected with everyone, so I'm not quite ready to "give it up", but "backing away" seems doable. I have set all privacy setting as much as I can, but still find issues. Maybe Flickr will help for a time, but either way there will still always be our blog.


-Michael and Heather.