How to Protect Our Kids Data

[Applause]

i went to a baby shower for a stolen

baby not your average baby

shower but to be fair none of us knew

that the baby was stolen

the story is this a colleague was very

pregnant

and though i no longer worked at the

same place i saw online that she was

expecting and mutual friends explained

that

for several complicated reasons she

would raise the baby alone

and was not telling the father well we

all

met to shower this single mom with gifts

wish her well and take pictures with her

big pregnant belly

it was so fun seeing all my old friends

and

celebrating this miracle for a woman who

never even thought she could have

kids this woman went on to have her nicu

baby

right at the start of the coveted 19

quarantines

so when she was finally released home no

one could visit due to the baby’s

fragile state

but gifts and meals were dropped off and

we all liked the pictures that she

posted online of her sweet baby except

that

there was no baby

this woman had lied for some unsettling

and

still unknown reason there never was a

baby

nor a pregnancy the pregnancy was faked

complete with costumed bellies and the

pictures that we liked

online were ones she had taken from

another woman’s social media account

she cropped out the other mom uploaded

them as her own

and was finally caught by a mutual

friend

now this is a bizarre story

but here’s the thing stealing kids

pictures online

is much more common than we think and it

leads to terrible consequences

now we all grew up in a time when you

put your baby’s footprints in stone

to mark the time when they were so small

that you could hold their little feet in

your hand

these little concrete footprints hung in

our private homes

but now kids have immensely large

digital footprints that are shared sold

and managed before these kids realize

how to set up an

email account we

are in an age of sharing

parents sharing the pictures and details

of their kids lives online

these guardians are releasing the very

personally identifiable information that

we would protect much more closely for

ourselves

think of it your friend’s cousin’s son

on his first day of second grade at

thompson elementary school

here’s his mom a quick click and i can

find her maiden name

his favorite color on his backpack his

best friend’s name

his second grade teacher’s name and with

a few clicks

to link voter registration or public

records i can find out where he lives

and the name of the street he grew up on

have i covered enough security question

answers to make you nervous

now you might think hey no big white van

will pull up to the school and kidnap my

kid by braving

him with his favorite things or giving

him enough personal

info about his parents or his home life

to make him comfortable with a stranger

oh well i agree that is an incredibly

rare thing but it’s the digital

kidnapping that is much more common than

we think

there are countless stories like the one

i shared earlier

pictures are downloaded shared sold for

exploitations and other

unthinkable wrongs i won’t get into the

story of the family that found their

children’s pictures shared to a social

media page for

cute kids and then traced all those same

pictures

to a dark internet child pornography

site

and speaking of the dark web there’s a

dark web intelligence firm called

terbium labs

that released details about how identity

theft perpetuators can buy

an infant’s name date of birth social

security number

and mother’s maiden name in one of their

blogs they write that

an enterprising buyer can find the

remaining details through open source

data sets

and by harvesting the parents

other online presences like social media

accounts

but strangers aren’t always the ones

responsible for crimes against kids

new york university researchers note

that 75 percent of kidnappings

and 90 of all violent crimes against

juveniles are perpetrated

by relatives or acquaintances

perhaps the very people liking your

posts

stop posting online minimize

kids digital footprints

we expect release forms from schools or

organizations

if they’re going to share information

about our kids but we don’t think twice

about social media mommy blogs or

youtube channels

however we’re about to have to face the

consequences of that

facebook started in 2004 and other

platforms have gained popularity since

that means a cohort of people who have

grown

up on a digital platform are about to

turn 18

in 2022. what do they face

unauthorized confessions of limitations

embarrassing facts

and publicized personal data

jenny is bad at math any math tutors in

the area

enrique has a.d.d i am going to blog

about how i raise him

joseph is being bullied at the

such-and-such school ruthie is still

wetting the bed oh what should i do

here’s sammy in the bathtub today her

fourth birthday

nyu researchers know what these future

adults face

their personal info will have been

stored for almost

two decades and that stored info is not

sitting idly

i quote data brokers build profiles

about people

and sell them to advisors spammers

malware distributors

employment agencies and college

admissions

offices sharing a post

about your kid is affecting their future

mental health

financial stakes and yes applications to

work

and to school another ethics issue

arises here what about the parents who

are making

money off of the blogs and posts about

their kids

what are the kids rights to their

digital footprints

stacy b steinberg of the emory law

journal explores this new gray area

in great detail and while some countries

are adopting new rights for children

the issue will certainly come to a head

as these youth born of 2004 and on come

of age

now i work in entertainment so i know

that in at least four

u.s states courts require that 15

of kids earnings in film tv professional

theater

be put into a trust for when they come

of age

all thanks to jackie coogan a 1914

vaudeville star discovered by charlie

chaplin

he became a child star but then at 24

found out his parents had spent the 3

plus

million dollars he had made or 65

million in today’s dollars

leaving him penniless awful

but his legal case enacted the coogan

law for the 15

trust deposits so future child stars

would be insured of at least some of

their earnings when they come of age

but how does this old hollywood formula

translate to the current

entertainment world of social media when

influencers and website channels that

feature

kids make money for the parents

when the forced fame of sharing personal

information is for the parents gain

long before the kids realize the

damaging effects that the internet might

have on them

it should be a human right to enter

adulthood

with a clear digital footprint

we love our kids but the running

commentary on their lives may ruin

their financial and professional futures

think of the people

that are now cancelled because something

was dug up about them in the past

imagine your innocent post of long ago

cost your grown child their job or

imagine finding out your teenager has

been claimed on someone else’s tax

returns for the last 16 years

and you’re just trying to get the fafsa

filled out in time for college

admissions applications

recognize that companies both legitimate

and illegal

are collecting and selling your child’s

data

and use that information to stop

posting online minimize

kids digital footprints

whoa you’re thinking

i’m just posting pictures of my cute

kids so my family can see him grow up

besides i just post harmless stuff

well i hear you if you absolutely

must share your child’s story to the

world then please try the following

to not share personally identifiable

information

look at your posts and your profiles see

if you can answer any of the typical

security questions with them and if you

can

edit or omit them again if you post

about your child

try to fiercely limit your security

settings

and your online’s friend circle to those

that you would let babysit

your child don’t post which school

or neighborhood your child is in or post

major recognizable check-ins like a

certain park

near your house keep your child’s

birthday

age and other factors vague

don’t use your child’s name online use a

pseudonym or call them

little one or some such title

if your child is willing and wants to

run

a youtube channel or be a co-star in

some of your vlog posts

then set aside at least 15 of the

earnings from those posts in a trust for

them

under their name and talk to them

continuously

about being online and what it might

mean for their future

try not to post pictures of your child

online

have their face turned away or blurred

but of course

all phone pictures do contain metadata

finally be that

person if someone takes a picture of

your child or shares information about

them online

tell them to stop and take it down

even if they’re friends even if they’re

family

some may say this is extreme maybe but

this is extremely important for these

future adults

some may think i’m blaming them for

innocently posting about their kids

lives

i’m not this is all new territory for a

lot of us

and some may wonder what i would do if i

were a mother

well i’ll share i am a mother i love

my kid my kid is amazing

and i care about my kids future and my

kid is

so photogenic and yet i’m that person

that says don’t post anything about my

child and i’m a kindergarten teacher

and i care about those kids and i’m a

human so i care about yours

i pass this information on to you now

because we should all be aware

now most of you will hopefully not go to

a baby shower for a stolen baby

setting off this journey of discovery

that i went through but since i did

have that experience i pass this

information on to you now

we must protect our children we must

protect their future

passwords and security question answers

their social relationships their college

and

job applications it’s their right

to not have digital baggage damaging

them before they reach adulthood

how do we do it it’s simple

stop posting pictures and information

about your kids online

support legislation for children’s

rights

and let these kids grow up as we did

with footprints in stone not

online

you