What do you do when you are faced with a privacy dilemma? This week, one of my children brought home a consent form; and it wasn’t for a field trip. It was a consent form to allow pictures to be used on a website used by many to raise funds for school projects. So I am faced with a privacy ethical dilemma. Do I protect my child’s privacy by not allowing pictures of her to be used as the letter states “on our website and may allow our donors to display all photographs on their websites and social media channels and to otherwise use the photographs for publicity and promotional purposes” or do I allow her picture to be used because her teacher is raising funds to be able to afford projects that shall further her education?
So here I am sitting with this letter trying to make the right decision. But is there a right or wrong in this case? You see, it’s difficult because ultimate ethical systems are impracticable. It is nearly impossible to define with absolutes. Ethical systems are workable as sets of principles. So do I give permission for my daughter’s pictures to be used so that her class can get much needed resources sacrificing her privacy in the process?
Our kids care about their privacy. It matters to them. How would they feel if we asked them if we could take their picture and post it for the world to see? I wonder sometimes what it feels like to be a kid these days. Whenever any of us pulls out a camera to document the recitation of a poem or performance of a play and post it on social media, our children’s privacy becomes public. When I was growing up I could see parent faces, now I imagine kids see camera phones…but I digress.
And this is the point when we need to stop thinking about what we want and shift our focus to the children and ask ourselves – what do they want? How do they feel? This picture, this image of my kid, is becoming part of her data trail. A data trail that she is having very little say in its forming. If others can take this picture and use it in other materials it is becoming impossible for my daughter to control her data. Which is why the issue is so complicated. But in controlling the use of her picture we are in a sense limiting the ability for the school to raise funds. And it is a struggle to deal with this tension. Who gets to decide what is right? Am I right or should the school get as many opportunities for funds as they can? Thus the privacy dilemma, in the effort to protect one am I unwillingly affecting others. A photograph is more than just a photograph.
So what do you do? Sign the paper or not?
