Sunday, October 10, 2010

Parents May be the Biggest Threat to Online Privacy

According to a study for AVG, a security software company, parents may be creating a digital footprint for their children-starting before birth, with prebirth scans.    The study found that:


1. The average age at which a child acquires an online presence courtesy of their parents is at six months, and by the time they are two 81% of children have some kind of ‘digital footprint’.
2. A third (33%) of children have had images posted online from birth
3. A quarter (23%) of children have even had their pre-birth scans uploaded to the Internet by their parents
4. Seven per cent (7%) of babies have even had an email address created for them by their parents
5. More than 70% of mothers said they posted baby and toddler images online to share with friends and family


The question that parents should ask themselves is if their children will want to have these pictures online (along with any other personal information) as they get older and may be searchable for future friends and potential employers.

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