Pictures or Privacy?

There is a bit of a bruhaha going on in the Internet blogging world right now (I know, when isn't some drama going on on the Internet?). A fairly popular blogger, Dutch, of the blog Sweet Juniper (sweet-juniper.com), recently discovered that a photo editor from the parenting website Babble.com used an unauthorized picture of Dutch's daughter to illustrate a story. How did the photo editor get this picture? She/He used the search function on Flickr.com, found the picture and grabbed it from the site. Dutch was not contacted prior to the use of the photo and when he complained about the use of the picture he was offered a paltry $100 and a meek apology. Dutch refused the money and decided to go public about the picture fiasco. Now there are many parent bloggers who are up in arms and questioning whether posting pictures of their children on the Internet is a good idea.

We all want to show the world how beautiful our offspring really are but at the same time we wonder if we are putting our children in a vulnerable state by posting their pictures. When I had to submit a photo for this blog, I took one of my kids and me and then one of just me. I am proud to be a mother, I am proud of my boys and I want the world to see them. At the same time I know of many instances where people have stolen photos of blogger's children and passed the children off as their own, openly mocked the children's appearance or God forbid used the pictures for inappropriate purposes. In the end I decided that you all would have to settle for just my ugly mug as I just didn't want my kids out there. I am an adult and I can take what people say about me and my appearance (within limits, I am human after all) but my kids didn't choose to go public. I don't care if other people do it, but for me it just didn't feel right. At the same time I wonder if I am a hypocrite because I freely use my children's name in this blog and will eventually talk about personal issues involving them. Also, am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

How do you feel about people posting pictures of their children on the 'Net? Would you do it? Do you feel that by posting on a blog or a message board that you open yourself up to the world and by that token you should share all? Let me know what you think!