- Once you have published your photos online, you've essentially given up control of what happens to them. It's very easy for anyone to copy your photos and edit or alter them in any way possible. Moreover, once they've finished altering your photos, they are then free to distribute them to any other sites or publications. And even if the person does not alter your photos, they can still take them from the site in which you posted them and distribute them to whomever or wherever they want. Once this happens, you have no recourse. You won't be able to retrieve those pictures and restore them to their original state.
- Regardless of whether you've emailed your photos to a single person or posted them on a social networking site, when you share pictures, especially pictures of people, they are subject to alteration and then re-publication by others. This puts you at risk, for example, when posing in suggestive ways that can easily be altered. Situations have occurred where someone has taken a relatively innocent picture, or one that was just meant for friends or family to see, and photo-shopped the picture in pornographic ways and re-posted it. It can be almost impossible to then have the photo removed from an Internet site.
- Teens who post illicit nude pictures of themselves or others can be at risk of facing child pornography charges. There are strict laws and rules forbidding these kinds of photos online and anyone who posts such photos --- even if they are underage themselves --- can fact charges. If those charges are upheld, a teen could be forced to register as a sex offender in some states. This is not an aspect of posting pics online that most people even consider.
- It is important to think about the future when posting pictures on the Internet. A photo of a child that seems "cute" today could prove to be extremely embarrassing years from now. Some people have not been hired for jobs because of the nature of the pictures they have posted on a social networking site.
- Even a non-compromising photo that includes personal information allows people to identify who is in the photo or provides clues that could be used to track a person down. It's important to be careful that identifying information is not available for strangers to use to obtain information about anyone in the photo. This is one of the primary ways in which online predators access victims through the Internet.
