I always thought it was illegal as all of my sons schools and camps have always had parents sign a form before the session allowing pics to be taken. But you are right don. no laws. Except for commercial use. That is scary!!! And except for georigia.. it was a law but possibly getting revoked.
Also look up COPPA.. (www.ftc.gov) Childrens Online Privacy Protective Act. It says that websites must get parental conset forr children under 13 for commercial websites and online services. But what is confusing to me is that it says "coppa only covers info collected online from children...it is not triggered by an adult uploading photos of children" so also very confusing.
I guess i can understand both sides.
Lets say a journalist wanted to photograph children in war or getting abused or starving. It is important documentation and serves a purpose for the world and policy.
Butt as a parent i would be nervous having someone tag and post my sons pic in front of his school so that any random nutjob would know what school he goes to, along with lots of other info. (My dad was actually in the news paper for something positive and had some weirdo harass him. We found out this guy was doing it to lots of other people as well and he eventually stopped)
Also in terms of cyber bullying. How scary. You can post an unflattering pic of a child and basically torture them with it? For everyone to see?
I guess we are still in that wild west phase concerning online regulation.
Personally, i think we should differentiate facebook from national geographic but how to legally define? Especially when facebook is considered a news source?
