BY HANNAH GRAHAM

THE new app ‘SelfieCop’ is designed specifically for parents who are worried that their kids will take part in sexting and taking inappropriate photographs.

The app is supposed to help them keep tabs on their children when using a smartphone camera by making copies of every photo taken and making them available to the parents in question.

A notification also pops up every time a child opens a camera device on their phone – warning them of the dangers inappropriate photographs can cause if posted online.

It is clear that the safety of young people is paramount in this app’s development however, critics have described SelfieCop as Spy Ware and ‘a tool for parents to control children’s lives’.

Personally, I think that this is a step too far, and although young people are in danger of these things, they have the right to privacy and if a parent is really that concerned about their child, why let them have access to a smartphone in the first place?

I believe that it is apps like this that are giving parents more of a reason to spy, or control their children; blinding them with statistics that may not even be relevant to their kids, and convincing them that every photo their child takes is inappropriate.

Imagine a message popping up every time you want to take a photo, even if it’s a perfectly innocent photo of a holiday or your pet – you will get reminded that your parents don’t trust you to be responsible with your phone?