Listen to thisHow government can make the
Internet safer for children and youth
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’s a pretty simple principle: Adults shouldn’t 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’ll work.
Yet almost 80 per cent of parents of tweens are overwhelmed by technology
and can’t keep up. Even if they could keep up, most common privacy software
has serious usability flaws. 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’ve 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’s 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.
OPINION
14 February 2014
http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/how-government-can-make-the-internet-safer-for-children-and-youth-1.1687080
