CHARLTON, MA -- If you have a Facebook page like 250 million other people around the world, you probably post pictures of yourself, your family and friends. But how well do you maintain your privacy settings? There's a case in Massachusetts that serves as a disturbing reminder of how photographs you put online can end up anywhere.
Authorities in Charlton, Massachusetts are looking into how pictures of 17 girls, some as young as 14, ended up on a porn website. The most disturbing aspect of this case, authorities say, is that the site contains images of child porn. "My friend called me and told me that I was on the website, and I was in shock because I kept checking it every day to see if I wasn't. Being on that website and being on a child porn website just makes me look bad as a person," said an 18-year-old woman who found her photo on the site.
Police say it appears the photos of the fully clothed students from Bay Path Vocational Technical School were lifted from their Facebook pages. The pictures were reproduced on the website that's based outside the U.S. Authorities are now urging students to check their privacy settings and limit access to their pages.
"Parents should be aware how technology works, and that as much as they can to supervise their sons and daughters, what sites they're going to, how they're posting them, their information out on social media. And the other problem is that their child may have a privacy setting but then they share out to their friends and their friends may not have a privacy setting," said Chief James Pervier of the Charlton Police Department.
As you might imagine, parents aren't happy to find out their children's pictures are popping up on a pornographic website, some with suggestive captions or titles. The fully-clothed pictures are mixed with images of young women in various stages of undress. In a few cases the pictures involve underage students who are in semi-nude or nude poses that were pictures they may have taken themselves and passed on to others.
Charlton police say they are aware of the situation, but there is little they can do to control what is most likely an international website. The school district sent information to parents about the issue and what precautions they should take. Investigators say they were aware of this website and it had been shutdown once, but apparently resurfaced again. Since it is likely an international website, investigators will be unable to shut it down permanently. The FBI is now investigating.
Do you worry about this happening to your children? Do you monitor your children's activity online? At what age do you allow your children to have a Facebook account? What can parents to do protect their children's privacy online? Leave your thoughts below.
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Information courtesy of the Associated Press, NBC News and CNN.
