Context
This article explores conceptual barriers to protecting children’s personal information in relation to online commercial data practices (see privacy). It does this by using Vedder’s conceptual categories of privacy to identify and position parents’ and teenagers’ concepts of privacy within interpersonal, institutional and commercial contexts.
Approach
Qualitative research based on interviews with open questions:
- RQ1: what concepts of privacy are most valued by parents and teenagers?
- RQ2: where are these positioned across interpersonal, institutional and commercial contexts?
- RQ3: what conceptual barriers are there to fostering responsibility for data privacy self-management beyond interpersonal contexts?
- RQ4: how do parents position themselves in relation to caretaking younger children’s data privacy?
Results
- The collection of personal data is especially problematic when considering children whose online activity is subjected to extensive commercial surveillance and data mining
- personal data creates digital dossiers that may follow young people into adulthood, potentially affecting future life opportunities in education, health care, employment and access to financial credit
- there is ==no agreement on the age at which children can be managing their data privacy==, minimum age of consent may vary between 12 to 16 years
- by choosing an age threshold, regulators make assumptions that teenagers and parents are both able and willing to make informed decisions when engaging with online data consent mechanisms
- In many countries, children are not treated as if they deserve special treatment
- children’s privacy is a problem that has been delegated almost entirely to their parents