There's a scary reason you should keep those back to school photos private. Photo / 123rf
If you've opened Facebook or Instagram recently, you'll likely have seen your friends and acquaintances sharing photos of their children, proudly wearing their uniform on their first day back to school.
What parents forget, in the midst of their pride (okay, and a bit of relief) when their children head
back to school after the summer holidays, is that these photos make their subjects easily identifiable.
It's all well and good when it's just your family and close friends seeing the happy snaps but, if spotted by the wrong eyes, your child could fall victim of predators.
Online security experts advise parents to hold from posting these photos on social media but, if you really absolutely must share it, there are some precautions you should take.
Netsafe says parents who share images of their children online - a practice commonly known as "sharenting" - should take a few important steps to ensure the child's safety, including removing any personal information from the photo, such as the school name or logo, or any other element that might make the child easy to identify and locate.
