Although the FBI has not yet encountered a case of a child molester targeting a child they found at a school web site, they worry (and so do I) that someone will use this information to target a child. Just think for a moment. Children who appear on a school's web site are at that school from 8:30 A.M. to 3 P.M. every day. It's easy to find them during those hours & when they are walking to & from school, especially if you know their name & have a printout of their photo in your hand. "Mary, can I talk to you a minute?" How many of our children wouldn't respond to someone who knew their name?

So I recommend that a school use photos of children only after they get the parents' consent, & only in groups of five or more. I also recommend that they not identify the children by name, only by the group: "Ms. Smith's fourth grade class" or the "Volleyball Club," for instance. This makes perfect sense when you think about it. We'd never let anyone post our child's photo on a highway billboard, would we? We need to think of the Internet as a giant billboard posted on the largest superhighway in the world. If we wouldn't allow something about our children to appear there, we shouldn't allow it to be posted online.

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