Profile Pics on 7Cups - Staying Safe Online
Hey Everyone!
Misty Here!
I am writing this discussion post because of the importance of choosing the safest profile picture that you can!
This applies equally to members and listeners.
I am a mentor here at 7Cups and part of the welcoming team too so I have a lot of new listeners and members that contact me.
Sadly a lot of these people that are new to 7Cups have problems caused by their profile pictures, that could easily be avoided.
We all know that it is very important to stay anonymous on 7Cups and one area that we need to be careful about is choosing the right picture.
I know that there are threads that have already been written, one in fact was written almost 4 years ago to the day but the internet has changed since then. We all know about internet safety, or we think we do! But do we really?
Basically remember that anything posted online stays online.
So let's use that and discuss profile pictures and how to choose a safe one?
Q. What is a 'safe display picture'
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A picture that cannot be traced.
Did you know that it is possible to take a picture and trace it back to where it came from?
So please, think about that for a moment.
Do you really want some internet stalker turning up outside your the front door of your home?
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A picture that does not reveal your true identity
Imagine that you share your true mental health problems and then your boss reads your thread
and sees the picture and recognises you?
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A picture that has not been used anywhere else on the internet ever!
You take a lovely selfie and post it to your social media accounts. You are proud of it. You want everyone to see how beautiful you are and how clever at taking selfies. You use it as your profile picture on 7Cups and then start sharing about your problems with your relationship, next thing you know your whole family recognise the picture and know all about your personal problems.
Q. But I want to show how attractive I am, lots of other people show their faces why shouldn't I?
💡You can of course! In fact a lot of 7Cups guidelines appear to encourage the use of a face picture! (but perhaps those suggestions should carry safety warnings or be amended to reflect the current state of internet safety). However, please bear in mind all the points above and then also these:-
❌Sometimes people join us here and they are bullies or unkind people and they like to target those that are new or inexperienced.
They will look at the picture and maybe even actively seek out people to target.
Choosing an anonymous picture can help to limit the possibility of this happening.
Instead of a young blonde female they see a picture of a daisy or a cat.
Instead of an attractive male they see a picture of a wolf.
⭐For New Listeners in particular- consider this point whilst you gain experience of handling different chat scenarios. Do you really need to have a pretty picture and your gender in your profile, and say you will listen to anything? Wouldn't you rather know that those things weren't why you were contacted?
Q. If this is all true then surely this applies to ALL pictures we post on 7Cups then?
✅YES YES YES! posting pictures of our own dogs or cats or Christmas tree can leave us all open to taunting, personal attacks, bullying or worse, tracking and stalking.
Q. Ok, so if it applies to all pictures what about other details in our profiles? Are they safe?
- We all need to take responsibility for our own safety online.
- Any details we give should still allow us to remain anonymous, so please think carefully.
- Giving some personal details may help people reach out to you because of shared experiences but also they may attract the wrong people and unwanted attention.
- People often think that they are safe if they only give out tiny bits of information here and there but that adds up and up and up.
Q. So what can I do if something goes wrong? How do I get help here?
- 7 Cups works hard to keep everyone safe.
- There are three Community Managers @Heather225 @ASilentObserver @Hope
- You can email community@7cups.com
- You can change your profile in your Settings (use the browser version www.7cups.com then top right profile settings)
Safety is Your Responsibility Too!
Profile Picture Policy changed October 14th 2019 see This Thread
Listening .... One Step At A Time
@MistyMagic very enlightening thank you for sharing this
@MistyMagic
Excellent post! Very useful information. Thank you, Misty!
@MistyMagic I didn't know people can track you down :O am I old or what :O thank you for this insight 💓
If you take a picture on a device that has GPS (a device like a phone that knows where it is on a map), then there's an option to record the map coordinates of place where the picture was taken. When you upload the picture to the Internet, the map coordinates might get uploaded too, depending on various settings. And then anyone who sees the picture can extract the map coordinates and locate the place.
Ideally, 7 Cups should remove any information of this kind from profile images, but I haven't checked to see whether it does.
Also, if you use a profile image that's also posted somewhere else on the Internet, there's a way to search the Internet and discover that other copy of the image. For example, if your 7 Cups profile image also appears on the website of the church you attend, then someone might be able to use the image to find the church.
However, these are only theoretical risks. Note that all our therapists at 7 Cups are required to publish photos of themselves here, and we don't hear of terrible things happening to them as a result.
I think there's definitely a downside to using technology to share information about ourselves, but there's also definitely a downside to being isolated and anxious. I'm not sure where it's best to draw the line.
@Rivercat22
Charlie
@MistyMagic Thank you for this amazing post
@MistyMagic
Thank you very much .very much needed post and everyone should ponder on this .
Very informative post! Thank you :)
@MistyMagic another thing to keep in mind is being careful uploading and sharing pictures in the forums using image hosting sites ive noticed a popular website that people use to share pictures is imgur an alternative to imgur is a free image hosting site called unsee they have a lot of identity protection for pictures including the ability to automatically delete after the first view or after a select time period the its the safest free image hosting site online so hopefully more people use it insteads of imgur or imagebb exc.
unsee privacy policy > https://unsee.cc/privacy.html
also when taking a picture with a device that has a GPS make sure the location is turned off and GPS doesnt have access to the app your using to take pictures or your camera so turn off location in settings and dont allow access and yes 7cups should immediately remove map coordinates from profile pictures is it possible to remove map coordinates from profile pictures or make it impossible to extract map coordinates if pictures have them ? if its possible that should really be top priority having a map to someones exact location thats a pretty big security threat i think so thats something that needs to be done here at 7cups asap
Very good post, thank you for sharing!
Stay safe!
Hey @MistyMagic
Thank you for the information on this post, its very useful to know and understand! I think there are many benefits and disadvantages, or every action we take on this site - and although its best to be aware of the possible risks, it shouldn't stop us from completing these activities all together.
For example, if at every sign of risk, I decided to back away - I wouldn't have done half of the things I've done at 7 Cups, wouldn't be in half of the roles I am in now and the risks offline would have affected my life even more. (not going outside my house, not going to university, certainly wouldn't be skydiving for charity). The truth is, we need to weigh these risks up, obviously we need to be aware of the possible risks - but we also need to realize and understand that we shouldn't stop living because of the unlikely change of this happening.
On 7 Cups, I have used a picture of myself for over a year - after changing from having a profile picture that had no relation to who I was. It was something I decided to do, after I was getting a few people question if I was real, or how I could possibly understand if I was 'a robot'. Of course, this was also something I wanted to do for myself - I wanted people to know that I was an actual person behind the screen, and I honestly think it has helped with people actually recognizing me as a human.
This hasn't been a smooth ride, and being a moderator - I have gotten hate directed at my appearance, as those individuals were frustrated at my badge, although overtime of mod hate, I have become less affected by the words said, as it is an everyday experience. Now, if you are sensitive than maybe this wouldn't be the best option for you. I know that for me, after a particularly bad experience - I have decided that I shall take off my full face picture, for a while until I'm in a stronger mindframe. But that is something that everybody should have a choice to do.
With the location, although the risk is there - I truly believe that this isn't an everyday experience, and that as long as we are careful with the pictures uploaded this should not stop us from posting pictures if we have a desire to, or think that it may make the experience more personal. Of course, there is always the risk of someone identifying us through our pictures - and I think that is something to be aware of, it all really depends on the person whether this is a deal breaker or not.
As always, Social Media has positive uses, and negative uses - and although its good to be aware of the negative sides, we should also remember that the majority of the time it is a positive experience, and these risks rarely come up. It can be worrying when we see posts like this, and spreading awareness is certainly the way forward - but it also shouldn't stop you from experiencing the positives of the site!
Emma
here is a free online tool to view and remove exif date (GPS coordinates attached to the picture) to remove this data drom any picture i just checked my profile picture i was a little worried because i did take it with a phone that has a GPS on it but it turns out my location wasnt attached to it so if you choose to have a profile picture of any picture you took with a device with GPS or share any picture with someone and your not sure if there is info attached to it you can check and see and remove it here > http://www.verexif.com/en/
so if your not sure about your profile picture i would suggest you take it off check it to make sure its clean if its not clean it and then upload it again as your profile picture and if you posted a link a picture in a forum for everyone and discover that picture has info on it you can message an editor to have the link removed https://bit.ly/2t25ord
Thank you for sharing these useful resources!
@jennysunrise8
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Thank you for sharing!! @jennysunrise8
