We are now learning almost daily of the threats to children and youth posed by social media. Who could have imagined that kids would be so vulnerable to predators through an apparently harmless outlet? That strangers could blackmail kids on Facebook?
Here鈥檚 a pretty simple principle: Adults shouldn鈥檛 be able to use fake identities to contact kids online.
And technology only becomes more convoluted by the day. Facial recognition software, web browser tracking, and geo-location tracking are only some examples of technologies that permit invasive monitoring by government, marketers and predators.
Our first response is educating children and parents about avoiding online dangers, hoping that鈥檒l work.
Yet almost 80 per cent of parents of tweens are overwhelmed by technology and can鈥檛 keep up[1]. Even if they could keep up, most common privacy software has serious usability flaws[2]. Nor can parents protect kids from misuse of technology at the hands of their friends (or rivals).
And kids are very reluctant to report when they鈥檝e been criminally victimized.
Major sites on the Internet should be safer for kids to use, and families need better tools to protect them. We have what we need to make a safer Internet right at hand.
Industry can increase security for child users on their platforms as a standard design feature. They derive rich profits from their child users and must do a better job of keeping them safe. The tech sector has financial resources, engineering skill, and the ability to minimize user risk at source.
Product safety and consumer protection are among the defining values of society. Homes, toys, cars, medicine and even rollercoasters are, for the most part, safe. They got that way through consumer protection and manufacturers liability.
RED HOOD PROPOSED MEASURES
- Raise Child Online Privacy Protection Act (US) protected age from 13 to 16;
- Extend Canada鈥檚 Consumer Product Safety Act to cover software applications, with combined oversight by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the CRTC;
- Regulate highly invasive technologies such as facial recognition software (banned in Europe), location tracking and behavioral monitoring software for young users;
- Enable corporate liability for damages caused by privacy violations known or expected to cause harm to children and youth.
Help make the Internet better. Write to the Prime Minister and your MP. Tell them you want industry to stand behind and be accountable for the products it makes available to the young.
