The segment reports that Facebook profile pictures of at least 17 teenage girls from Bay Path Regional Voc‑Tech School in Charlton, Massachusetts, were found on an X‑rated website, possibly hosted overseas. The Worcester County District Attorney, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are reviewing whether the site violates privacy laws, but no federal investigation has been opened yet. Parents are advised to either check the site themselves or ask their children, and if a picture is found, to contact local police or the district attorney. The segment explains that once an image is uploaded to the web, it may be impossible to fully remove it because platforms retain backups. Identity‑theft expert Robert Siciliano discusses technical options such as fingerprinting and facial‑recognition technologies, notes their limited current deployment, and recommends that parents simply avoid posting their children’s photos online. He also comments on the permanence of data on social‑media servers and the varying security features across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.
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It's a story that raised a lot of concerns, especially from parents. Profile pictures of teenage Massachusetts girls found on an X-rated website. Those photographs may have been lifted without their knowledge, and a lot of people are wondering what you can do to make sure your kids aren't being targeted here. A lot of kids are on Facebook. Crystal Haynes here with some new information. Crystal.
Well, Maria, parents have been flooding our inbox and posting on our Facebook wall asking what can they do here. The answer may not be what they want to hear though, but here's the latest on this story. We know that the Worcester County District Attorney The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office are looking into how the Facebook profile pictures of at least 17 girls from the Bay— Bay Path Regional Voc Tech School in Charlton ended up on this pornographic website. We know the pictures of these girls are of them fully clothed and they were reproduced on the site. We also know this website could be based overseas. But new today, contacts at the FBI tell me they are currently reviewing whether or not this case meets the the threshold for investigation. In other words, if this website, which are still, uh, we are still not naming, is violating any privacy laws by using the Facebook profile pictures of these teenage girls here in Massachusetts. Now, Maria, the U.S. Attorney's Office is working with the FBI, and they tell me on the record, quote, nothing at this time suggests that investigation is warranted into the violations in the federal statutes.
You know, Crystal, it's interesting. After we aired this story last night, a lot of parents contacting us saying, "What do we do here? How do we know if our kids are on this site?" Well, according to the U.S.
Attorney's Office, parents have two options here. Go to the site and check it or ask their child. And if they do find their child's picture there, contact local police department or the DA's office in their county.
So if they find that, of course, any parent's gonna want their child's picture taken down. What do they do about that?
Well, more bad news there. If the picture is there, the U.S. Attorney says once it's uploaded, it may be impossible to be removed. Once a picture is posted on the web or Facebook, no matter what your privacy settings are, you are exposed to this kind of action by websites like this, Maria.
More from Crystal at 6:30. Thank you, Crystal.
That's what the feds say on this case. Now we're asking an expert. As a parent, what can you do to protect your kids when they're online? Robert Siciliano is a McAfee consultant and identity theft expert. He's live at our in the Beacon Hill studio tonight. We appreciate it, Robert. We asked viewers on our Facebook wall if they had any questions, concerns. So let's start off with a few right here. Chris Crosby asking, can't they invent some sort of scrambler that scrambles these images and vital data?
So there are, um, numerous technologies out there that they're essentially fingerprinting for photographs, uh, facial recognition, uh, that, uh, if implemented by, say, Facebook going forward could work towards solving the problem. However, it's not ubiquitous, it's not currently within Facebook, and that means that up until then, if that ever happens, consumers are on their own.
How about Jeff Bruni says, what's the next step to ensure this can't happen again?
Yeah, the next step is don't post your kids' pictures online. My kids' pictures are on the mantel over the fireplace, and that's where they're staying.
Very good. Pretty safe there. All right, let's talk about Kevin Babcock. He says, "Why does Facebook make it impossible to delete images or frankly anything?
I understand you can hide these things, but why not allow us to delete them?" Well, Facebook does allow you to delete them off of your page at that time, but they do store them, and they may store them in perpetuity. I don't know that yet. That being said, know that when it's digital, it's repeatable, and essentially it can last forever.
Well, let's talk about that just for a moment. As an aside, Twitter, you have a trashcan icon right there. You can click on it and is it gone or not really?
The servers that these websites host, Twitter, Facebook, other social media, they back up their backup. It sits in the cloud. It could be there for weeks, months, years, for a lifetime. I don't know.
All right, we have these other areas where kids can go. Jennifer Mallon with a good point. People have to remember it is not just Facebook that our kids are sharing on. There is also, as we mentioned, Twitter, and Tumblr, among others. Some of these sites have less security features than Facebook, is that correct?
Yeah, Facebook actually has come around. They've done a pretty good job of protecting users' privacies. However, you have to understand that the bad guy is also looking for ways in, ways around, and they're constantly looking for ways to exploit consumers.
Very good advice, Robert Siciliano. We appreciate it. Thank you.
Thank you.
This story leads us to our Facebook question tonight: Should Facebook do more to protect users' profile pictures of minors? The company's own policy says children as young as 13 can have profiles. Or should it be up to the parents to be more involved here? The question has been up all day on our website. It's also on our Facebook wall and on Twitter. Let us know your thoughts.
