Description
In the US, laws designed to minimise extraction of data from minors and to address online harms are largely underpinned by models of parental control. Similarly, Art 8 of the EU and UK GDPR place control in the hands of parents, assuming parents are the best people to safeguard (younger) children’s privacy online. Although this is understandable (the UK and US both afford significant respect to parental decision-making powers), these parental control models are problematic for many reasons.1. Whilst Article 8 GDPR ensures online providers can secure valid consent for the processing of minor children, it cannot be assumed that expecting parents to fulfil the parental stewardship role safeguards children’s privacy.
2. No parent is able to fully restrain corporate data collection and effectively protect their children’s privacy online.
3. Article 8 also incorrectly assumes a level of knowledge many parents lack. Article 8 assumes an alignment of interests and values between parent and child, which cannot be guaranteed.
4. Indeed, a reliance upon parental consent may result in some children choosing not to access support and information which they need and may prevent them from being able to grow relationships with individuals from communities with which they identify.
5. Further, whilst Article 5 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child requires states to respect parents’ rights to guide their children in a way that reflects their evolving capacities, online parental control models are usually reliant upon age limit approaches which fail to recognise that not all children mature at the same rate.
6. Such online parental control models may in fact impede the ability of some, mature children to exercise agency and autonomy.
The position is no less complex offline. For example, although the ICO makes clear that in the offline context parental consent is required only where a child lacks competence to exercise their data protection rights themselves (the age limit approach not then applying), across the UK, many local education authorities recommend schools obtain consent to share children’s images online solely from parents. Children are not informed and are not supported to or permitted to express a view about how their personal data is used.
Whilst parental control models may benefit adults’ interests (particularly corporate interests) this may be at the expense of children’s best interests, and their rights to privacy, to freedom of association and to be heard.
| Period | 31 Mar 2011 |
|---|---|
| Event title | What's right for children and their data? Keeping on the rights side of the law |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | London, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |