Protect Your Kids

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Yikes, did you hear about the man a couple weeks ago who hacked into a Houston family's baby monitor and started talking to their 2 year old daughter in an obscene and perverse manner??  If you missed this story, check it out below.  Honestly, it makes me shutter and as a mother I had nightmares after hearing this story.
Baby Monitor Hacking Alarms Houston Parents

As scary as it is, it is a good reminder for us all to be prudent in protecting our children in this technology-crazed wireless world we live in.

If you stay tuned on that video link above and watch through 2 sets of commercials there are another couple news casts that discuss some of the potential dangers of video monitors.  If you have an analog video monitor, is very easy for someone (even if they are not trying to) to have access into your home.  This is a scary thought.  Before my first daughter was born I had heard some "crazy-talk" about the "dangers" of video monitors, but I just thought those people were paranoid.  But really it is easy for someone to pick up your wireless signal and see the real-time images from your video monitor.  That potentially means that other people can not only see your children, but also see you in your private moments in their room with them, and could even tell whether you are home or not.
The third video on the link above has some tips for protecting yourself, your children, and your home.  It suggests only using digital video monitors because they scramble the signal so it is much harder for someone to have access to your camera.  It also suggests turning off your camera monitor when not in use.  I know video monitors are great (we have loved ours!) but please use caution and discretion to protect your family.  
We have one video analog monitor and one video digital monitor.  After watching the videos above I have turned our analog monitor towards the wall and try to remember to turn it off when not in use.  I would like to get a second digital video monitor for that room, but we might just end up with an audio monitor depending on how finances look next month and how many nightmares I continue to have...  It looks like the man who hacked into the Houston's family's baby monitor did indeed hack into a digital monitor.  He even gained control in order to direct the camera angle and talk through it into the child's room.  I know this is a rare type of psycho, but it is scary enough to make me lean more towards that audio monitor.

And while I'm talking about protecting your children I really hope that you have the GPS locater turned off for your camera on your phone.  I feel like this is old news, but just a good reminder that people CAN locate GPS coordinates off the pictures you post online and to social media.  This means they can find your home from that picture of your baby you posted on instagram, twitter, Facebook etc.  If you like to leave the GPS feature on for your smart phone to organize your pictures, please make sure you use an app like PixelGarde to strip the location data from your photo before you put in out there on the world-wide-web.
To turn off the location tracking on your iPhone, go to Setting>>Privacy Location Services. You can turn it off for everything or just for the camera. On an Android, go to Settings>>Location Services and turn GPS off when you don't need it. On Windows Phone, go to Settings>>Location to turn off Location Services. 



Do y'all use video baby monitors or just audio monitors?  Do you worry about other people seeing into your home through your video monitor?
Do you use measures to protect yourselves when posting pictures to social media (and your blog)?