The Internet and Protection of Children Online: Time for Change

This article explores the risks for children online and their privacy, with particular focus on the implications of widespread collection, use and retention of data about them. It touches on international standards and national laws that impact Internet activities and the special risk to children’s privacy in today’s ubiquitous computing environment. This is a complex topic that transcends national boundaries and involves both legal and policy issues confronting governments across the world. Section I provides a brief outline of the online risks for children arising from the scope of data collection and the regulatory challenges of the Internet as it transforms itself into a “cradle to grave” experience for up and coming generations. It explains how the Internet facilitates data collection for legitimate business and service needs. At the same time, these collection practices can be readily exploited for a variety of secondary purposes. The scope of data retention and secondary use is a growing challenge, particularly with respect to young people, whose reliance on the Internet for social, recreational and educational activities makes them captive participants in the overall business enterprise. Recent global incidents have highlighted issues surrounding bulk collection and retention of personal information. Section II reviews relevant international and European instruments that recognize the rights of children and provide context for the development and interpretation of national laws and standards to protect children in today’s global information society. The development of these instruments and the concerted action of regulators will become increasingly important to oversight of privacy protection as issues arise that have global relevance. Public reaction to deficient privacy practices can also be an effective response that may lead to improvements. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (“UN Convention”) sets international guidelines and an ethical framework that can guide us collectively to a better future. Other mechanisms are evolving to enhance privacy oversight and practices, such as industry codes of practice and enhanced educational measures. However, we can do more to respect children’s privacy rights and to prevent over-collection, unauthorized data retention and secondary uses through enhanced internal controls, corporate governance and disclosure practices. Section II provides an overview of some of the developments that may assist to address issues of lack of transparency and accountability in the Internet world. This article is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of the law or legal frameworks in this area, which are extremely complex; rather it highlights some of the challenges of regulating Internet activities and attempts to raise awareness of many of the current issues for children online. These are global issues that deserve the attention of all participants, including governments, regulators, businesses and individuals