Post any cute pictures of your friend or sister’s baby online anytime recently? Well, you might want to consider the digital footprint you’re leaving behind.
A new study concludes that 92 percent of American children under the age of two have an online presence that they didn’t ask for. You know how it goes — mom or dad posts on Facebook or e-mails a birth announcement with the baby’s first, middle and last name, often the mother’s maiden name, and the birth date of course. Friends forward that stuff to friends of friends and all of sudden, your baby has a digital footprint. Oh, and identity thieves light a cigar in celebration.
[RELATED: Who the Internet has hurt and helped]
Anti-virus software company AVG conducted the study and polled more than 2,000 mothers in 10 Western countries. The U.S. topped the list with American kids appearing in more pictures online than any other country. New Zealand came in second at 91 percent, with Canada and Australia at 84 percent. Other countries in the study were the U.K. France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Japan.
Overall, 82 percent of children in the polled countries have a digital footprint before they even hit 2-years-old.
Other findings from the AVG study, according to J.R. Smith at AVG blogs:
1 – The average age at which a child acquires an online presence courtesy of their parents is at six months, and by the time they are two 81% of children have some kind of ‘digital footprint’.
2 – A third (33%) of children have had images posted online from birth
3 – A quarter (23%) of children have even had their pre-birth scans uploaded to the Internet by their parents
4 – Seven per cent (7%) of babies have even had an email address created for them by their parents
5 – More than 70% of mothers said they posted baby and toddler images online to share with friends and family
To read the whole report in PDF format, click here.
And follow Marketplace’s coverage of all things related to the Internet.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
