BADABING! Bad-a app!

Webnotes by: Theresa Payton, Fortalice, LLC. Content also covered on WBTV's "Protecting Your Cyberturf" segment featuring Kristen Miranda and Theresa Payton.
 
We all knew it was just a matter of time.  An app to surf all the posts on Facebook and highlight inappropriate photos.  Well, there is an app for that and the bad news is, there will probably be copycats coming soon.  The good news is, it actually doesn’t work all that well yet.  

There are over 2.5 billion photos uploaded to Facebook each month.  So many photos, so little time.  So if you want to see your friends scantily clad, then for only $1.99, Badabing! promises that it will search your Facebook friends’ photos and send you the sexy snaphots that it finds.  Some can get it to work and when they do, the results are shocking.  Many have expressed that the app does not work and they want their money back.  But there’s a bigger issue at work here and cyber expert, Theresa Payton, explains.

RECENT STUDY:
A study was just released by the Internet Watch Foundation and what did it find?

1.  Large number of provocative photos posted by underage social network users
2.  Even worse, these photos are frequently taken off of social networks and posted on adult websites
--they sampled 12,224 images tracked by the United Kingdom-based foundation and 88% of the inappropriate photos were actually reposted on porn websites.
3.  Concern:  this is just another app to encourage kids to post and surf the net for racy photos.  Worse, it provides easier aggregation and surfing of racy photos for predators and perverts.

WORD OF THE WEEK:  FUSKER
Fusker is an app or site that will quickly look for images and pull them together in one easy view.  These are often used against free hosted photo galleries like photobucket or instagram.  This can be a helpful tool but can also be used to search for racy photos that people thought they posted in a private, secure way.

WEB RESOURCES:
For more information on the Internet Watch Foundation study and resources:  www.saferinternet.org.uk

There is a “share with care” video that may help you have a conversation with your child.  The video is at:  http://www.onguardonline.gov/media/video-0004-share-care

An online safety game called “stop that post” can also be a fun way to talk about this tough topic with your kids:  http://www.nsteens.org/Games/StopThatPostAgain