Musings, and a new policy

It has certainly been an interesting few days. Events occurred that made me reflect on sharing. Specifically, sharing photographs.

As new parents, we all but wallpaper our homes, refrigerators and wallets with pictures of our family. Typically, we want our extended families to share in this enthusiasm and practice. In order to accomplish this, and share our excitement, we share pictures with family.

I use this blog as a method to share pictures and stories of what's going on with Sophia. A digital scrapbook, updated regularly, with the expectation that the contents will be shared.

But what happens when the people we share pictures with share our pictures with others? I know that when I send my mom photographs, she will whip her wallet out at the smallest provocation in order to show others her grandchild. Sophia's grandpa has her picture, along with her other cousins, on the wall at his store. But what if Uncle Sean asks my mom for a copy of a picture I gave my mother? Is it reasonable for me to expect my mother NOT to share the picture with Sophia's own uncle?

I think the answer to that is no. That would be silly. Why else would you share a picture, if you didn't expect others to look at it too?? I don't expect the pictures I share with others to sit idle in a dark drawer, unappreciated and unloved. But it turns out that not everyone agrees with me.

There are certain people who have asked to not appear on this blog. They feel that, although the blog is used to share pictures of family with family, I do not have a right to "infringe on their privacy" and share images of those family members with others.

Therefore, I will no longer feature their images, or refer to them by name in this forum. For reference sake only, they will be referred to by acronyms which I will define as need be. For example, all nieces and nephews will be referred to as Niece 1, Niece 2, Nephew 1, Nephew 2 (in birth order) rather than by name, unless their parents agree that I can use their name "on the internet." In the event that I use a picture that they appear in, the image will be cropped or manipulated so that their face is unrecognizable.

I am making this policy as a request of BIL (Brother in Law) to make his life easier. While I do not agree that he has a privacy interest in pictures that are shared, we came to an agreement.