Stacey Steinberg

Director/Professor | University of Florida

Gainesville, FL, UNITED STATES

Stacey Steinberg's research explores the intersection of a parent's right to share online and a child's interest in privacy.

Biography

Stacey Steinberg is. the director of the Center on Children and Families in the Levin College of Law. She also is the supervising attorney for the Gator TeamChild Juvenile Law Clinic and is a master legal skills professor. Her research explores the intersection of a parent's right to share online and a child's interest in privacy. She is an internationally sought after expert on children's privacy and sharenting and is the author of "Growing Up Shared: How Parents Can Share Smarter on Social Media and What You can Do to Keep Your Family Safe in a No-Privacy World." Before joining the law faculty, Stacey served as a felony prosecutor handling crimes involving child abuse, child pornography, domestic violence and rape. As a practitioner, Stacey provided training to lawyers, police officers and social workers on matters relating to child abuse, neglect and trial procedure. She also worked as a senior attorney for Children's Legal Services.

Areas of Expertise (9)

Family Law

Child Welfare

Online Safety

Sharenting

Children's Privacy

Children's Rights

Social Media

Child Abuse and Neglect

Digital Citizenship

Media Appearances (5)

Is it Ethical to Share Photos of Kids on Social Media?

Katie Couric Media online

2022-02-05

For a while now, as social media has played a bigger and bigger role in our lives, I’ve been wondering about those ubiquitous photos of children posted on social media. I’ll never forget when Ellie was 16 and I had just done an interview for Good Housekeeping. I mentioned something about her in the article and she politely approached me afterwards, saying, “Please do me a favor: Will you ask me permission before talking about me in a publication?” I thought she was perfectly justified in her request.

Mom, please stop: Why sharing too much about kids on social is a bad thing

USA Today print

2021-10-17

I love talking about my stunning, brilliant, cherished-beyond-measure, 20-year-old daughter. Oh sure, there are moments I overdo it a little, and maybe even gush, embellish, or overshare.

Parents Need Help Balancing Kids' Safety and Privacy Online

Barron's print

2021-08-20

I am a parent and at first glance the child-safety protections Apple just announced looked like a welcome. tool to help me keep my kids safe online. I am also a current attorney in dependency court and a former child abuse prosecutor, so I recognize how valuable such tools can be in preventing pedophiles from hurting children.

Schools and other organizations are sharing more about kids online. Here's what parents can do to protect them.

The Washington Post print

2021-05-20

Last month my daughter came home from school full of excitement. “I am artist of the week,” she shared with me proudly. She is my youngest of three, and I knew what that meant. Having roamed the halls of my children’s elementary school countless times over the past decade, I knew that her artwork was likely to be on display in the hallway for all to admire.

Why Parents Should Pause Before Oversharing Online

The New York Times print

2020-08-04

As a mother of three, a photographer and a children's rights lawyer, my roles as memory keeper and memory revealer are constantly in flux.

Articles (3)

Documented: My Week at the South Texas Family Residential Center

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

Stacey Steinberg

2018-09-01

I’ve been a practicing attorney for fifteen years. I’ve been a law professor for nine years. In that time, I’ve tried countless cases of domestic violence. I’ve counseled rape victims and interviewed child abuse victims. I’ve meet with parents who have buried their children, and I’ve sat with families as they await news of their loved ones fate. I’ve terminated parental rights, and I’ve built new families through adoption. I’ve taught cross cultural counseling, and I’ve prepared my law students to make legal arguments in emotionally charged cases. But until last month, I was able to move on from my cases. I was able to separate the lessons I taught from the life I live. I’ve always been able to separate my work in the court and classroom from my life at home.

Changing Faces: Morphed Child Pornography Images and the First Amendment

Emory Law Journal

Stacey Steinberg

2018-08-27

Technology has changed the face of child pornography. The Supreme Court has held that child pornography harms a child both in the creation of the image and the circulation of the image, and thus has ruled that the possession and distribution of child pornography falls outside the realm of First Amendment protections. However, today’s images depicting child pornography do not always depict an actual child engaged in a pornographic act. Instead, some images depicting child pornography are “morphed images.”

Sharenting: Children's Privacy in the Age of Social Media

Emory Law Journal

Stacey Steinberg

2016-03-08

Through sharenting, or online sharing about parenting, parents now shape their children’s digital identity long before these young people open their first email. The disclosures parents make online are sure to follow their children into adulthood. Indeed, social media and blogging have dramatically changed the landscape facing today’s children as they come of age. Children have an interest in privacy. Yet a parent’s right to control the upbringing of his or her children and a parent’s right to free speech may trump this interest.