Posted on Dec 10, 2015
Is your photograph considered PII by the Department of Defense?
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In today's social media world, your photo is probably posted somewhere by someone other than you. Whether you were tagged by a friend in Facebook or Instagram, or were in the background of another photo of someone else.
My question is when and if this is considered PII IAW the DOD and the Army's Social Media policy. If it is PII, does your unit ask you permission before posting images of yourself and your family at unit functions on its own Social Media pages? Please reference your opinions. Thanks!
My question is when and if this is considered PII IAW the DOD and the Army's Social Media policy. If it is PII, does your unit ask you permission before posting images of yourself and your family at unit functions on its own Social Media pages? Please reference your opinions. Thanks!
Social Media
Facebook
Public Affairs
OPSEC
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 9
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About 2 years ago a former employer I worked for in Afghanistan called me up. They had been contacted by a woman in England wanting to know why I was trapped in Afghanistan and would they would not allow me to return home. Since I had been home for about 3 years I was pretty sure she had the wrong guy.
Turns out my Facebook pictures had been use by someone trying to scam women into believing that they needed money to get out of Afghanistan. ( Would have thought they would use somebody prettier than me.) They were using my last name as it was on most of my uniforms and a different first name. There had been one picture where I was in a company polo and that is how she was able to figure out who I worked for.
Moral of the story. Be careful who has access to your social media. Not telling what some dumbass will do with it. Everything I have now is set to private.
Just one more thought. When I was doing investigations to hire new police officers I would troll Facebook and at the time MySpace. I found all kinds of things like racist comments, to drug usage. Most of the time it was not on their page, but they were tagged somewhere else. My brother in law just got hired on a PD. He is social media nonexistent. He scoured for days making sure he was a ghost. Smart move.
Turns out my Facebook pictures had been use by someone trying to scam women into believing that they needed money to get out of Afghanistan. ( Would have thought they would use somebody prettier than me.) They were using my last name as it was on most of my uniforms and a different first name. There had been one picture where I was in a company polo and that is how she was able to figure out who I worked for.
Moral of the story. Be careful who has access to your social media. Not telling what some dumbass will do with it. Everything I have now is set to private.
Just one more thought. When I was doing investigations to hire new police officers I would troll Facebook and at the time MySpace. I found all kinds of things like racist comments, to drug usage. Most of the time it was not on their page, but they were tagged somewhere else. My brother in law just got hired on a PD. He is social media nonexistent. He scoured for days making sure he was a ghost. Smart move.
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SSG Robert Burns a couple of years ago in an Org Day, a close unit was invited. The day after pictures of the activity were uploaded to the BDE FB page and there was a big big fuss about it. I don't know if it is because I'm a PFC but, I don't think that being in an unit activity doesn't exactly tie you to that unit, even less if you are in civilians. But, that was their defense and pics were removed.
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Depends on the nature of your job, organization/unit you're affiliated with, and ultimately, it's the individual's prerogative. Just because one SM is in unit X, doesn't mean he/she needs to hide their identity online - but in another unit, you may be directed to do so. Most units have SOPs for this topic these days, to better provide SMs within an organization/unit proper guidance.
I try to leave out facial shots of friends/other SMs in pictures that I'm in if it's a personal picture and hasn't been circulated by a military media source. But that's just personal preference and out of respect for other individuals who may not want their mug shown.
I try to leave out facial shots of friends/other SMs in pictures that I'm in if it's a personal picture and hasn't been circulated by a military media source. But that's just personal preference and out of respect for other individuals who may not want their mug shown.
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CPT (Join to see)
Never heard of a photo being PII by the DoD. However, you should consider it PII for yourself and your family. Your FACEBOOK profile probably shouldn't be of you in uniform. Why should any of us broadcast that? We don't know who is looking. Don't want to make yourself an unnecessary target of identity theft.
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LTC (Join to see)
CPT (Join to see) - DOD hasn't directed photos of SMs being PII, but that's not to say specific units haven't - especially during operational or even training environments (I'm specifically referencing SMUs). Not only in regards to PII, but also due to the metadata that pictures can contain. I agree with your statement - as you should try to minimize your "online" footprint.
SSG Robert Burns - The only thing I could find is RMDA's overview of PII (https://www.rmda.army.mil/privacy/PII/PII.html), as most of the information I've mention is usually unit level driven by a SOP, developed by the S2/Unit FPO.
SSG Robert Burns - The only thing I could find is RMDA's overview of PII (https://www.rmda.army.mil/privacy/PII/PII.html), as most of the information I've mention is usually unit level driven by a SOP, developed by the S2/Unit FPO.
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SGT (Join to see)
I rarely post any pictures on facebook. I personally don't care if someone post a picture of me on any social media because I don't do anything to be ashamed of.
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