A report by a Washington, D.C.-based technology think tank released on Monday argues that an effective approach to online safety for children must strike a balance in protecting the privacy of users and allowing them to express themselves, while also distributing responsibility amongst parents, online services, government, and online platforms.
The report of the Children’s Bureau acknowledged that no amount of regulation can eliminate all the potential harms children may face in both the digital and physical realms. Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF). It is important to strike a balance in order to protect civil liberties of everyday Americans, such as their right to privacy and freedom of speech, without compromising the necessary regulation.
The report was written by ITIF’s Policy Manager Ashley Johnson. It continued to say that sometimes regulations infringe upon the rights of children to free speech and privacy, and also on the rights adults have to privacy.
In fact, the report said that, if they are not designed properly, such rules could trample upon children’s rights, including their right to communicate with friends and access information.
The 32-page document discusses current legislation in the domain of online child protection. It also addresses key issues, such as privacy for children, age verification, protection against harmful contents, and child exploitation. The report also contains 10 recommendations to ensure the safety of children online.
Imperfect Public Policies
Michael Davis, founder and CEO of Merek Security SolutionsSanta Fe, New Mexico, is home to a company that specializes in data protection and risk assessment.
“Many proposed measures, like overly broad age verification mandates or blunt COPPA expansions, risk being counterproductive — unduly restricting positive online experiences for kids, stifling digital ecosystems, and infringing on civil liberties,” he told TechNewsWorld.
“Most people would agree that the report makes the claim that current proposals for protecting children online are not balanced and could overburden parents, businesses or violate user rights,” said he.
David Redekop CEO and founder ADAMnetworksThe company, which is a network security firm in London, Ontario Canada, acknowledged that the public policies implemented to date have been imperfect. “Mostly because the issue that needs to solved is about predatory behavior The worst type, without borders and against those most vulnerable: children,” said he to TechNewsWorld.
He continued: “When you combine that with the fact that parents and children are spending less time together, this problem has multiple dimensions. It cannot be solved solely by government policy.” “It must become a priority for parents.”
Redekop stated that “unfortunately” this leaves many vulnerable children, particularly those in homes with single parents.
The Perils of Expanding COPPA
The report recommends the FTC update their Children Online Privacy Protection Act rules (COPPA) to reflect technological advances since 2013. This includes allowing operators an analysis of audience composition in order to avoid classification as a service directed at children while maintaining COPPA’s actual knowledge standard.
Congress has called for a change in the law to include 16-year-olds.
Merek’s Davis stated that extending COPPA protections for teenagers ages 13-16 could cause many services to cease offering offerings to this age group in order to avoid compliance costs as well as liability risks.
“Switching from an ‘actual knowledge’ to an ‘implied knowledge’ standard would create a compliance minefield for services operating in good faith,” he added.
In the report it was noted that extending COPPA up to 16 years old will probably lead to less innovation of online services for children and teenagers. This will result in less educational and entertaining content for children and teens.
The report also said that it would mean fewer social media spaces online for teenagers, which are an important part of the social and developmental life of teens in America.
The report did recommend that Congress amend COPPA’s actual knowledge standard, so that websites aimed at a broad audience, with common features like user feedback forms and customer service chatbots are not required by law to get parental consent in order to collect data from users who have indicated that they are children.
‘Trustworthy Child Flag’
The report urges Congress to require device operating systems to implement an opt-in “trustworthy child flag” for user accounts. This “flag” is available during the initial setup of a device, and then in its settings. It signals apps and websites to know that a user underage. Apps and websites serving age-restricted material must check this signal and block users underage from accessing this content.
ITIF’s Johnson argued that social media platforms should give parents more control, such as the “trustworthy child” flag. She said that social media platforms giving parents greater control is a very important step.
She added that interoperability was also very important so that parents could easily switch from one platform into another.
The report recommends Congress pass legislation creating a government-led platform to develop a voluntary industry standard on interoperability for cross-platform parental control, which would allow parents to set universal limits on the online behavior of their children across multiple devices.
David Inserra is a fellow at the Center for Free Expression and Technology. He said that parental controls are a part of the solution. Cato InstituteThink tank based in Washington, D.C.
There are many parental controls available, but parents do not know how to use them. He told TechNewsWorld that they are underutilized.
He said: “If you’re looking for more safety or more options in terms of parental control, age verification, or other features, you can expect to get them from the private sector.”
He said that mandates from the government won’t fix the problem of online child safety. He said that he did not believe the mandates would have the effect the government hoped they would. “Instead, they will cripple the innovation,” he said. “These companies are here in the U.S., because we have had great success in allowing companies innovate and create new product.”
Other Recommendations to Improve Online Child Safety
The report also includes:
- Congress should pass federal privacy legislation to address actual privacy harms, preempt state laws and create a single set protections for Americans. The act must include additional protections, including opt-in consents for teens between the ages of 13 and 17. Adults can opt out. data collection Share and benefit.
- Congress should pass legislation that creates a framework for securely releasing and validating digital credentials across all levels of the government. The Department of Homeland Security will then issue these digital credentials upon request. Grants can also be provided to states for upgrading their systems of issuing drivers’ licenses and identity credentials so they can support digital IDs. These IDs could serve as privacy protected forms of age verification online for adults.
- Congress should increase funding for photo-based AI research and testing and direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST will conduct a current empirical evaluation of age estimation algorithms to determine their accuracy.
- Congress should increase funding to law enforcement in order to investigate and prosecute child sexual abuse reports. This includes increasing funding for ICAC Task Forces, police technology and police training, to keep up to date with the constantly evolving methods of perpetrators.
- Congress should pass federal laws similar to Indiana’s Child Influencer Act, which protects child performers of traditional and digital media. The legislation would require parents to save a portion in trust for their children that they can access as adults.
- Congress should fund digital literacy campaigns to teach children and parents about online safety.
The ITIF report is “How to Address Children’s Online Safety in the United States” is available without filling out a form.
