Does covering your child's face with an emoji actually protect them?
Many parents use emojis to cover their children's faces in online photos, aiming to balance sharing family moments with Privacy concerns.
Lisa Ventura, a cybersecurity specialist, cautions that obscuring faces with emojis offers virtually no real Privacy protection, calling it 'security theatre' rather than effective security.
Even with faces hidden, identifiable information such as school uniforms, age, build, location data, and daily routines can still be shared, contributing to a Child 's digital profile.
The primary concern is not the removal of emojis, but the cumulative data from multiple posts over time, which can inadvertently create significant privacy risks.
Ventura recommends parents carefully consider the story a photo tells, including metadata and background details, and prioritize children's future autonomy over their digital footprint.
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