There is a growing concern regarding the use of emojis to hide children’s faces in online images, as highlighted by a cybersecurity specialist.
Parents often exercise caution when it comes to sharing pictures of their children on the internet. Some completely refrain from doing so, or choose to share only on secure platforms, while others may attempt to hide their child’s identity.
Sharing photos and videos online poses risks, particularly with the advancements in AI technology that can manipulate images effortlessly.
There have been alarming instances where X’s AI Grok was used to undress women’s images on the app without their consent.
Considering these dangers, posting any image online now entails greater risks. This has led many, including celebrities, to use emojis as a means to protect their children’s identities.
However, using emojis to mask a child’s face comes with a cautionary note from a cybersecurity expert.
Lisa Ventura, a renowned cybersecurity expert, shared her insights with The Independent, emphasizing that using emojis for this purpose is essentially ineffective.
“I need to be brutally honest here – putting an emoji over a child’s face provides virtually no real privacy protection whatsoever,” she said. “This approach is more security theatre than actual security.”
The concept of security theatre refers to actions that give the appearance of enhancing security but achieve little in reality, similar to the restrictions on carrying liquids over 100ml at airports.
But why does this approach fall short?
Ventura pointed out: “Most parents aren’t just posting one carefully emoji-protected photo. They’re sharing multiple images over time, and the combined data from all those posts creates a much bigger privacy concern than any single image.”
She highlighted that even with the child’s face concealed, parents still share identifiable information, such as school uniforms, which can help build a profile.
“Every photo you upload trains facial recognition algorithms and builds advertising profiles,” Ventura added.
While some might fear that emojis could be digitally removed from a picture, Ventura clarifies that this isn’t feasible, stating: “There’s a lot of scaremongering about AI being able to magically reconstruct faces from emoji-covered photos.”
More realistically, the emoji becomes integrated into the photo, ensuring no one can see ‘behind’ it.
So, how can parents better safeguard their children’s online privacy?
The harsh truth is that the safest approach is to avoid sharing any images of children on public platforms or carefully consider what is shared online.
“If you wouldn’t hand a physical copy of that photo to a complete stranger in the street, don’t post it online,” Ventura advised. “Because that’s essentially what you’re doing, except that stranger might be able to keep it forever, or worse, use it in unauthorized ways you did not intend.”
Ventura also emphasized the difficulty of erasing digital footprints and noted that children often don’t consent to their images being shared by parents, saying: “Children deserve to have that right protected until they’re old enough to make informed decisions about their own digital footprint.”
She concluded, “It might mean missing out on some likes and comments, but protecting our children’s future autonomy might just be worth that sacrifice.”