I’ve seen a couple of news stories recently dealing with the issue of sextortion, people being extorted by someone that they have shared sexual photos with. Do “this” (usually pay money) or the photos will be sent to friends and family and posted online.

There are concerns that social media companies aren’t doing enough to prevent this abuse from happening, as reports of incidents in Canada have been on the rise. That had me wondering.

I have never tried to post an explicit photo of myself anywhere. It would never occur to me. And I thought social media platforms all had rules against that, and that any attempts to post nude photos or videos are quickly identified and deleted. Obviously I was wrong.

From what I have read, the majority of people being sextorted are younger. They don’t think through what they are doing, and share intimate things with people they don’t know, with disastrous consequences. Some have paid thousands of dollars to the extortionists to prevent exposure. Others have committed suicide.

Still, I am left wondering what the social media companies can do to prevent such extortions from taking place? Software that detects a conversation that might lead to blackmail sounds great, though there are huge privacy and civil liberty issues.

Big Brother watching over you for your own protection sounds like a great idea to absolve you of any responsibility. And history shows that Big Brother has our best interests at heart, right?

When I heard this being discussed on the radio I waited for the question that never came. “Couldn’t this problem be solved by people refusing to share explicit photos online?”

I know, that is a Pandora’s Box issue. People, especially young people, are going to take those photos. Digital media means you don’t have to take the film to be processed, so it isn’t as if anyone else will see what you have taken. Until you share them online, where there is really no privacy. (I used to have my own darkroom. It never occurred to me until just now that I could have taken nude photos.)

Maybe what is needed is not Big Brother watching over our online conversations, but an acceptance that just because something is technologically possible, that doesn’t mean it is a good thing. Sharing intimate photos with someone you have met online (or even a school friend) is not likely to be a good idea. Not if you want the images kept private.

Can parents have that conversation? Will today’s children listen? Why was the question not asked by the radio interviewer?

Maybe if parents took some initiative instead of relying on big business or government to deal with this issue, it would be less of a problem. Or maybe I’m living in the past and don’t understand today’s realities.

Which do you think it is?