Notice on Family Privacy

This is a note about privacy concerns. And it is the first and likely the last time I write something like this.

Videos of the family are recorded by me on my digital camera. I take the footage and edit it and make a video.

These videos are posted onto the website YouTube. YouTube is a very popular site. Millions of people have loaded millions of videos. Some are meant for friends and family, much like our videos. Other videos are informational-- UC Berkeley posts many videos so that students and the general public can find out about the university and learn from many educational videos they put on YouTube. Musicians and artists post music videos, interviews, concerts and similar videos meant for fans. Some people record TV shows, news shows, and political ads and put them up.

Just as people go to a bookstore and find all sorts of books and magazines, the same is true for YouTube.

Because the videos are typically viewable by the general public, some people might not be comfortable with having our family videos on YouTube-- whatever is in the video can be seen by anyone. Mostly this discomfort is from not being comfortable with the internet and technology itself.

IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT ANYTHING IN THIS BLOG, IN THE PICTURES, OR IN THE VIDEOS, LET ME KNOW AND I WILL REMOVE THE CONTENT.

Though the videos are viewable by anyone, there is no other information attached to the videos. Someone watching the video would not be able to see anyone's name, address, phone number, hometown, or any other bit of personal information. They would only know what is in the video and nothing more.

Stalkers would not be able to find you from these videos. I am careful to not include personal information in them. Stalkers do not go online to become stalkers-- they are stalkers anyway.

The only way I can put this:

Don't flatter yourself into thinking someone wants you that badly.

News reports of internet stalkers are because of people who put personally identifiable information online so that the stalkers can find them.

You are more likely to become a victim of a stalker on the street and from someone you know or have dated than from an online stalker.

Your child is more likely to be abused or kidnapped by a family member or family friend than by a stranger.

Predators of children on the internet go after kids who communicate with the predator.

Stupid and irresponsible kids talk to strangers in the internet and become victims.

Stupid and irresponsible parents that don't communicate with their kids or know who their kids are talking to online have kids who become victims.

A YouTube video does not lead to stalkers, predators, or any other person you might fear.

This blog and the pictures in it can be viewed by the general public.

If you are concerned about YouTube videos, than your concerns are probably the same for this blog and the pictures in it.

There is no other way to have this blog, the videos, or the pictures online and to keep them private and only viewable to our family.

I have placed all of the family videos on YouTube and have marked each of them as private. No one else may see the videos on YouTube except me. The only other place to view the content is here on the family blog.

Here's a way you might be able to understand what I'm saying. Fear is most often irrational. People are afraid of things they should not be afraid of, and don't care about things they should fear.

No school bus had seatbelts. Every passenger car has seatbelts. Parents raise an uproar of anger and disbelief when they learn this. But here's the truth: your child is more likely to die in your car with you behind the wheel than on any school bus without seatbelts. A school bus is big and yellow, and cars notice it and stay away. A bus driver's only job is to drive safely. Meanwhile, parents speed through freeways and the city, talk on the cell phone, weave in and out of traffic, yell at the kids to stop talking, worry about getting to work on time, worry about what they have to do later, worry about the kids' homework, drive through yellow lights... Parents are distracted and refuse to abide by the law and by rules of safe driving.

I respect anyone's concerns. But I have no tolerance, one way or the other, for people who fear things they shouldn't and have no fear for things they should.

• --2,000-3,000 people die every year from workplace accidents, and even though everyone works, we are more afraid of terrorism-- terrorism that has only killed 3,000 civilian Americans in the last 100 years.

• --New York has twice been the victim of terrorism since 1990, but people in Iowa, Nebraska, Mississippi, Oregon and small towns like Santa Barbara are more afraid of being victims of terrorism themselves.

• --Syphilis, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and other STD infection rates are on the rise, and yet we know people who continue to have unprotected sex-- because they think pregnancy is the only thing to fear.

• --Heart Disease is #1, Cancer is #2, Stroke is #3, and Diabetes is #6 on the list of the leading causes of death in the United States. And how many of us are over weight? How many of us smoke? How many of us exercise regularly? How many of us take vitamins? How many of us drink more than we should? How many of us go to the doctor regularly? How many of us sleep enough each night? How many of us put up with bad situations and abusive relationships at work and at home?

• And yet, we teach our kids more about being afraid of 'the scary man' than we do about all of these other things that can kill them.

What do we fear and why do we fear it? Why are we afraid of things that never happen to us when we should fear those things that happen to everyone around us?

If you are concerned about stalkers and predators, I will gladly take down the content here.

But at least be consistent with fear and show me you are concerned about things that will really affect you.