AARoads Forum

Meta => Suggestions and Questions => Topic started by: Route66Fan on April 25, 2021, 09:29:56 PM

Title: Posting/Embedding images from Facebook posts
Post by: Route66Fan on April 25, 2021, 09:29:56 PM
Is there any way to embed images from Facebook posts on here? I've found some pictures of old roads & bridges on there & I would like to share them on here.
Title: Re: Posting/Embedding images from Facebook posts
Post by: Scott5114 on April 25, 2021, 09:52:00 PM
No. Facebook image URLs are unreliable and expire after a time. Also, the person who posted it to Facebook can delete or make it friends-only at any time.

If you see an image on Facebook you want to share, ask the user if they would mind if you shared it here, and if they don't care, upload it to an image hosting service and post it the usual way.
Title: Re: Posting/Embedding images from Facebook posts
Post by: kphoger on April 26, 2021, 01:55:01 PM
Except that one time I grabbed a picture of me and my kids by a road sign from my wife's Facebook page, uploaded it to my own 3rd-party image hosting site (imgur), posted it on here, then had a mod/admin remove it because my kids supposedly hadn't consented to have their pictures posted...
Title: Re: Posting/Embedding images from Facebook posts
Post by: webny99 on April 26, 2021, 02:07:02 PM
Except that one time I grabbed a picture of me and my kids by a road sign from my wife's Facebook page, uploaded it to my own 3rd-party image hosting site (imgur), posted it on here, then had a mod/admin remove it because my kids supposedly hadn't consented to have their pictures posted...

That is very strange. I don't see any reason why you'd need consent from your own kids.

I've also seen several road meet photos posted to the forum, and I doubt everyone in those photos gave consent for it to be posted here (unless they did so at the time the photo was taken... but in that case, couldn't you just say the same thing about your kids?)
Title: Re: Posting/Embedding images from Facebook posts
Post by: Scott5114 on April 26, 2021, 03:19:14 PM
Except that one time I grabbed a picture of me and my kids by a road sign from my wife's Facebook page, uploaded it to my own 3rd-party image hosting site (imgur), posted it on here, then had a mod/admin remove it because my kids supposedly hadn't consented to have their pictures posted...

That is very strange. I don't see any reason why you'd need consent from your own kids.

They're still people with a right to privacy. Fortunately there wasn't social media when I was a kid, and my mom hasn't ever gotten onto it anyway, but I would have been supremely embarrassed, annoyed, and creeped out if my parents had posted pictures of me anywhere strangers could see them. Their decisions don't necessarily represent my wishes.

There's also the issue of people potentially seeking out pictures of young children because they wish to do them harm. Of course anything posted on AARoads is going to play a minor part in that, if at all, but still, I am not comfortable with that being a possibility.

People in road meet photos are different because they are adults. There is an expectation that road meet photos will be circulated on the Internet, so if someone doesn't wish for their image to be circulated, they can step away from the group or offer to be the one taking the picture, both of which ensures they won't be in the picture.
Title: Re: Posting/Embedding images from Facebook posts
Post by: kphoger on April 26, 2021, 03:37:27 PM
How is any of that different than posting the pictures on Facebook to begin with?
Title: Re: Posting/Embedding images from Facebook posts
Post by: kphoger on April 26, 2021, 03:38:13 PM
(For what it's worth, my kids know on road trips that any pictures I take of signs will end up on here.)
Title: Re: Posting/Embedding images from Facebook posts
Post by: webny99 on April 26, 2021, 04:01:24 PM
Except that one time I grabbed a picture of me and my kids by a road sign from my wife's Facebook page, uploaded it to my own 3rd-party image hosting site (imgur), posted it on here, then had a mod/admin remove it because my kids supposedly hadn't consented to have their pictures posted...

That is very strange. I don't see any reason why you'd need consent from your own kids.

They're still people with a right to privacy. Fortunately there wasn't social media when I was a kid, and my mom hasn't ever gotten onto it anyway, but I would have been supremely embarrassed, annoyed, and creeped out if my parents had posted pictures of me anywhere strangers could see them. Their decisions don't necessarily represent my wishes.

I guess I was thinking about the here-and-now perspective more so than a retroactive one. As I try to put myself in those shoes, I don't think I would view it as unacceptable, but I can see how others would.

But then there's the question of what happens if kphoger says he has their consent. You have no way of knowing for sure, so it essentially amounts to "no photos of children", which should probably be included in the forum rules and guidelines if it's not already.
Title: Re: Posting/Embedding images from Facebook posts
Post by: Scott5114 on April 26, 2021, 06:49:11 PM
How is any of that different than posting the pictures on Facebook to begin with?

That's kind of a bigger issue. I'm not going to get into an entire discussion on it here, since I don't feel remotely qualified to discuss it in depth, and it's way outside of the forum's remit. But if you do a little research on it, you might find some very interesting points of view on it that you hadn't considered.

In summary, now that the Internet is such a big part of American society, there have been some discussions about children's right to privacy versus their parents' legal rights to post their image and such. This has especially been a problem with mommy bloggers and things like that, where parents have posted images of their young kids on a blog or Facebook page, either for monetization or just for social media clout, and then the kid grows up and decides the way their likeness was used is embarrassing or otherwise something they are uncomfortable with.

Legally, the copyright lies with the parent who created the image and who has the legal right to use the child's likeness, so the child doesn't really have much recourse, even after they're over 18. So it's possible such things can lead into a scummy situation where a parent is profiting financially off of "look at little Margie's poops" or whatever, and then the kid is suffering social stigma from it in their social circles, and has no redress because the balance of power firmly lies in favor of the parents. Which feels unethical to me, even if it's 100% legal.

Of course, the majority of instances of Facebook posts of children pose no problems, because the kid really doesn't care, or it's not something that would be embarrassing or feel like an invasion of privacy. But it's still something to consider; if I had kids, I wouldn't post any picture of them in a context I wouldn't feel comfortable posting a picture of an adult friend, which would include a quick "hey, is it OK to post this to Facebook?"

But then there's the question of what happens if kphoger says he has their consent. You have no way of knowing for sure, so it essentially amounts to "no photos of children", which should probably be included in the forum rules and guidelines if it's not already.

I mean, you're right, we have no way of knowing if the kids are okay with it or not other than the poster's say-so. So it's safer to just default to "not", especially since this isn't really meant as a service for sharing pictures of people or families anyway, so not much is lost by disallowing it.

Fortunately, road signs are public servants, so taking a picture of them doing their official job duties is a-ok. ;)
Title: Re: Posting/Embedding images from Facebook posts
Post by: Roadgeekteen on April 26, 2021, 09:46:05 PM
For kids under the age of 10 or so, I would say that the parents should be the ones giving consent.