A while ago, I posted a photo on FB that I marked as private to my “friends.” I’m as careful as I can be with privacy settings. I make sure as little as possible can be shared beyond my immediate friends, without my control. So, a few months ago, when I had a funny pic of a family member end up on TheChive, I was surprised. I hadn’t shared or posted it anywhere other than FB and certainly didn’t give permission. And yet somehow, it was harvested from FB. That’s not to say it’s not easy for a “friend” to copy a photo and post it somewhere or sites like this to steal them, but I thought it was an obvious boundary that people don’t cross.
I did some research and the site told me they got it from another site called catsmob, located outside the US (I’m not linking to either as they don’t deserve extra attention). But that’s as far as I got. The site never responded and I had to send a cease and desist order to their web hosting company. It was taken down.
How did they get it? The ways are endless. What can you do? Well, you can NOT post photos at all, but let’s keep it real. That’s probably not going to happen. So, in the vein of reasonable, here are some things you can do:
1. Upload your picture in the smallest size and resolution possible. 72 pixels is all that that’s neeed on the web. Most people view FB on their mobile devices, so it really doesn’t have to be that big. Maybe 100 x100. A photo that size isn’t worth anyone’s time to share.
2. Add a watermark to all of your photos. There are several apps for both Apple and Android that will do the trick. Here’s a list from early 2014. There are more now.
3. Don’t post information that identifies you, your family or children on public sites. Your friends know their names anyway. Captions can be just as dangerous as a photo of your child next to your street sign or a photo of your new car stereo that includes your car’s license plate.
If you have any other ideas, share them in the comments below.