The Dangers Of Posting Pictures Online

You post vacation photos on Instagram. You share the results of your professional photography shoot on Tumblr. Your friends tag you in photos they upload to Facebook.

Posting pictures online can seem harmless on the surface. However, you might be surprised at what can happen when your pictures are floating around online.

Why should you be wary of posting photos online? 

Read on to find more about the surprising dangers of posting photos online.

Identity Theft

Scam artists have graduated from sending letters and making phone calls. With the advent of the internet, people have found ways to take on entire stolen personalities–and they can be pretty convincing.

Scammers can take your photo and use it to impersonate you online or become “someone else” using your likeness. By pretending to be you or using your likeness, they can gather personal information from your loved ones, con people out of money, and more. When your pictures are floating around online, someone could use your image to commit crimes and cause harm online.

Intellectual Property Theft

The internet has created a great space for photographers, both professional and amateur, to share their work with thousands of people at a time. This is great for exposure, but it also comes with a serious risk: property theft.

In fact, 60% of professional photographers reported that they’ve had at least 200 pictures stolen from them online. Of course, they still have access to their images when this occurs. However, it often means that someone else is taking credit for or profiting off of work that isn’t theirs. 

Of course, professional photographers shouldn’t stop sharing their work. Instead, you may want to consider watermarking your photos to make it a little harder for thieves to get away with using your work.

Also see: Amazing ways to schedule your posts

Loss of Reputation Control

Many people don’t realize how many of their social media photos pop up in a simple Google search. They also may not realize how likely it is that potential employers will Google them after an interview. The last thing you want is for your embarrassing or inappropriate photos to cost you a job or tarnish your reputation.

It can seem like once something is on the internet, there’s no way to take it down. Fortunately, with a little effort, you can wipe the internet of all those embarrassing photos. Learn how to delete Google images and protect your reputation from harm.

Protect Your Privacy When Posting Pictures Online

Nowadays, there are tons of methods and platforms for sharing pictures online. We tend to dump photos onto our social media accounts without a second thought! However, you may want to be aware of some of the dangers of posting pictures online and do your best to protect your privacy.

We live in a technology-obsessed world and it’s easy to overlook how that impacts us. Do you want to learn more about the latest tech news and stay on top of your tech use? Take a look at our technology section for tech content that will help you use your technology the right way.