Ok, so I just recorded some video of my son in the bathtub splashing about after getting all wired on some chocolate cake (yesterday was his 1st birthday). I was about to upload it to Facebook using privacy settings so that only my Friends would be able to see it, when it occurred to me that it might not be the best idea, since my son is quite naked and there are times when you can see his genitals pretty clearly. Now I'm quite sure that I don't have anyone on my friends list who I'd be concerned about seeing the video (ie no pervs), but I imagine it might very likely be against the Facebook ToS to upload the video.

This also got me thinking about where the line is drawn (both legally and morally) to determine the difference between an innocent video of a child having fun (say in a bathtub or a pool) and child pornography.

So, first, is it a bad idea to post the video to facebook for my friends only, or am I over-thinking it and being paranoid?

And second, at what point does it become child porn? Could it be argued that I'm breaking a pretty major law by having recorded this video and having it in my possession, or does the innocent content outweigh the fact that he's naked? Legal and Moral arguements are encouraged.

That's tough to tell, dude. I've wondered about this sort of thing, too. I really don't know if you should really show that to all of your friends via facebook... but then again they show naked babies in PG-13 movies and such. As long as you're not intending to show it in a sexual way, I don't think they should really be able to mess with you.

Just think how your son is going to feel in 15 years when you tell him you put naked videos of him on the internet, though. It's bad enough when your parents break out the photo albums. Don't torture the kid.

I'm pretty sure it's legally okay to show naked babies/children up to age 3 or so as long as it's not sexual in any way. Having a video of your own child is not considered pornographic unless you are, of course, doing pornographic things in the video.

If you're still worried about it, you could use some video editing software and add some censor bars or box blur to the video at the appropriate times before you upload it.

[EDIT]On the other hand, i'd have to go with what antony said about how your kid's gonna feel about a video of him being on the internet, it may not seem like all that big of a deal to you as an adult, but to a teenager it could be the end of the world, especially if some girl he has a crush on finds it... could be the most embarrassing thing he has ever gone through.[/EDIT]

Well I just watched it again and on 2nd though I might not upload it cause my wife put the camera right on where I'm starting to bald on the top of my head.

Don't put black bars or blurs because then you'll just look like some over-worried ninny who's trying to be PC.

What you should do is open it in windows movie maker and highlight the portions where you can see his junk and hit the delete key. Then it will just look like a normal cut where you might have stopped recording then re-started a few second later. Nobody will be the wiser and you'll just avoid the situation entirely.

Oh yes good point.

Yeah that's a good idea, Dash.. I'm not gonna worry about seeing his butt though... Or probably 90% of the video would be cut.

Butt is perfectly OK. I'm pretty sure I've seen little boy butt on network TV.

This seems like a terrible idea all-around. I'm surprised a good course of action is not clear to you. Since you're in doubt, why don't you wait until your kid is old enough and ask permission? If you object with "of course he'll say no," then you're probably right, and why not acquiesce to his hypothetical wishes?

Well I've actually pretty much decided against it. I considered Dash's idea for a minute, until I realized exactly how much work it would be to go through frame by frame looking for my son's penis.

That being said, I'm still interested to hear people's opinions on the matter, so feel free to continue discussion.

O_O;


Internet... is forever.



If you have photographs in an album, when he's a teenager he can hunt them out and burn or shred them.
If you have media online, where it can be reposted indefinitely... he will have serious difficulty eliminating that.

I don't even.

DVD's are forever. Hence why I have DVD's of my children in embarrassing moments that I will sit down with their potential girlfriends' and show away...

You're not going to run afoul of child porn laws, but I think the video, as you described it, would be classic parental overshare. Don't post.

I'm not sure about the laws, but I know one thing for sure: the only people who give a **** about your kid taking a bath are you, your wife, and pedophiles.

My wife & I use Facebook as our primary method of communication with our family & friends. We've posted several photos of our daughter, nude, via said service. I just went to a beach where 80%+ of the children were nude. My child was probably photographed a number of times (there were a few tourists) & I couldn't care less. We're not going to avoid posting photos &/or videos that we think said people would enjoy merely because a mentally ill person may also see & masturbate to them. My wife & I are very "open" about nudity & it's quite likely that our daughter will feel the same way. We're not at all worried that she'll be embarrassed by any photos or videos that we've taken.

My parents took a video of me, when I was around 3, running around the swimming pool, completely naked, with feathers on my head, chanting "Hoy yayyay!" like an Indian. I've showed that video to dozens of people. I think it's cute & hilarious. If by some chance a pedophile has gotten ahold of said video & is currently masturbating to it, more power to him, so long as he doesn't do it in front of me or my family &/or friends.

The symbol for 'or' is ∨.

http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF215-Kitty_Photographer.jpg

Well that's not actually true. Sure some of my facebook friends wouldn't be very interested in it, but you have to keep in mind that the majority of my friends are his relatives, (ie. grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.). (For example, I just told my sister about it, and she said she definitely wanted to see it, but that I probably shouldn't put it on facebook, I could show her later.)

Yeah, well I pretty much agree with this. I'm not concerned about the content, and if someone is then that's their failing. But on the other hand, it's not super important for me that people see it, so i'm not too concerned with rationalizing why it's perfectly ok to put it up there.

Legally, the only deciding factor in whether it's child pornography or not is what the jury or judge thinks. That's seriously all there is to it.
Genuine child porn can be dismissed as art, cutesy family photos can be condemned as hideous sexual abuse. There is no way to be sure of how it will be interpreted, no way to make certain that it's completely innocent. In other words, no, absolutely don't put it on facebook.

-Hell, given the way anti-CP laws often lean, there's any number of things that would be labeled as child pornography under them. 16 year old actress had a 21 year old body double play her breasts in a scene? That would be CP. Of course, these laws and interpretations have been struck down by the supreme court time and time again, and every time we should be thankful.

How about this single act will make you child hate you for most of his adolescent years?

kids usually hate their parents through most of their adolescent years anyways, only the exscuses for why vary.

but yeah... maybe dont put it on the internet.

A person is unlikely to be embarrassed by such things if they're raised to be "open" about nudity. However, there's nothing wrong with erring on the side of caution.

With Australian law they determine the purpose of the image to decide if it is child porn in your possession or not.
If it's obviously a perfectly innocent video like you've said, it's fine. HOWEVER if they were to search your computer and find you have hundreds of videos of different children in the same situation, questions would be asked.
It's actually very context sensitive really, and on one hand it makes a lot of sense and on the other it sounds very open to corruption.

Hey, internet, are you interested in seeing videos of my naked children?

Sounds lose/lose either way.

It's sad that we even live in a world where we have to consider this kind of thing.

But I would say, A, err on the side of caution.

B, the Internet is forever.

The newest James Bond movie, starring Sean Connery as James Bond's dad, coming soon to a theater near you -- Intarwebs Are Forever!