Markets 
Parents are demanding the NSW Department of Education overhaul its social media policies after it was revealed how easily student photos could be mass-harvested using artificial intelligence, warning that children are being put at risk.
For $20, Central Coast parent and digital marketing specialist Ben Fitzpatrick used an AI tool to find the Facebook pages of 1780 NSW public schools. While he stopped short of downloading children’s photos, the experiment proved anyone can mass harvest the images of schoolchildren.
“You talk to any parent and at the top of their list of concerns is social media,” Fitzpatrick said. “Schools know this, everyone is aware of this, yet the Department of Education is actively reinforcing this system.”
Images taken from official school social media feeds are increasingly being scraped and run through generative AI to produce sexualised, mocking or damaging depictions of children. The threat pushed the eSafety commissioner to urge schools to reconsider their posting habits and establish action plans to respond when images were weaponised.
Fitzpatrick’s audit revealed 82 per cent of all NSW public schools operate an active Facebook page, many of which share images of students. The practice is also common among private schools.
The Department of Education said social media was an “important tool for schools across all sectors to connect with families and local communities” and said it had advised schools to take a “risk-based approach” when using images of students and staff on social media.
“This is an issue facing all schools and organisations that work with young people,” a spokesperson said. “The department continually reviews its guidance in line with emerging evidence and the changing digital landscape, including the risks posed by AI-generated material and image-based abuse.”
The department said there had been no directive for schools to increase posting.
Parents are asked at the start of the school year if they consent to their children’s photographs being used.
The department is also about to embark on an advertising campaign and has asked parents for permission for the use of photographs.
Fitzpatrick disagreed: “I’ve talked to principals at various schools and the message is the same: this is coming from the department, this is the policy.”
The NSW government has made it a priority to arrest the decline in public school enrolments.
A NSW public school principal, who spoke anonymously due to the department’s rules, said social media was “the best promotion” for a school. “I can run 20 open days, but sometimes a few posts on social media will have a bigger impact,” they said.
Newcastle parent Kara Jade said the constant posting has had the opposite effect and has turned her off the public system. In the process of researching schools to send her children to, she said she was shocked by the frequency with which her local public schools shared images of children, some of which included their names.
“Do they not realise that all the photos they publish publicly are so easily data harvested by anyone?” Jade said. “It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
Southern Tablelands mother Jess, who asked to be identified only by her first name to protect her child’s privacy, said she was horrified when her local public school shared images of students in their swimwear.
She said while she understood parents enjoyed the updates, times had changed and it was no longer safe to share images of children.
“I think it should be less about what the parents want to see and more about protecting the children because they can’t advocate for themselves,” she said.
“We know now that whatever goes on the internet stays there forever.”
Fitzpatrick has turned his findings into a website, calling for the department to urgently revise its social media policy. “Australia’s eSafety Commissioner now tells schools to move student imagery into a closed or restricted space. The policy has not caught up.”
Get to the heart of what’s happening with climate change and the environment. Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.
Emily Kowal is a Walkley award-winning education reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners
Read the full article here
