This little blog is anonymous and the photos posted are usually of me or of people at public panels or events where they should not expect anonymity. FaceBook is another matter.
I used FaceBook to post pictures of people taken at parties. It was nice to allow my local and overseas friends to ‘see’ each other indirectly. Digital photo albums are convenient but what about people who do not wish to have their name put to their picture online? FaceBook has a feature which allows you to ‘tag’ people’s photos. That means even the well-meaning person who posts an album of pictures without names risks having them identified at a later date.
Does this mean the fun of a FaceBook photo album is unethical? Most people like to see themselves online but what about the minority who don’t? I don’t see how you can get permission to post photos from everyone at a party – unless you make people sign a waiver at the door.
This matters to me because I got on FaceBook mainly to share photos. Now I’m considering taking my pictures down and closing my account.
If anybody is out there, I’d like to hear your opinions. What should be done with our photos? What shouldn’t? And should FaceBook get rid of the ‘tag’ feature so that people can say ‘yes’ to their photo but ‘no’ to having their name attached.