Difference between revisions of "Datafication of Children"

Revision as of 23:13, 26 March 2020

Datafication, or being datafied, is the new trend that is happening more and more when our actions online are changed to quantifiable data. This data can be monitored, analyzed, and tracked. Companies place value on this changing data because it can be leveraged for lucrative practices like targeted advertisements.

Many individuals in our generation began making their social media footprint once they turned 13 years old, the age required in order to make an account. Teenagers would pick their own photos and videos they wanted to display of themselves in order to portray their own image. This is evolving. As these teenagers are growing up to adulthood and having babies themselves, their social media use is not changing.

Children’s interactions with the internet is increasing. Toddlers are using toys that connect and upload data to the internet, like CloudPets, which stored voice memos and was eventually hacked. Parents are creating social media profiles for their unborn fetuses and continue to post about their child well into their young child years. Parents are oftentimes violating their child’s privacy, especially depending on how personal the shared content is.

Kids' Online

The presence of children online is increasing ^[1], especially with the wave of “sharenting”, or parents sharing information about their children online, happening across social media. ^[2]. There are arguments on how parents need to think before they post because individuals are currently unaware of how their actions will effect their children when they are older. Some also argue that parents are shaping a child's online identity when the child does not have a say in the matter. Data on children is not only being collected on their parents' profiles but also across a variety of other modes like toys, education softwares, and wearable devices that collect data in utero.

Entertainment

Technology is making its way into every aspect of our lives, and this is also applicable to children. There are many ways that children consent to having their data gathered. Electronic kid’s toys like Teksta Toucan, My Friend Cayla, or CloudPets were popular among children, but all of these electronic toys are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled. Teksta Toucan and My Friend Cayla had reports of their Bluetooth feature being hacked and displaying cuss words to their young users. CloudPets’ stuffed toy’s ^[3] collected data on children’s voice recordings and photos which was then hacked and compromised.

Student data being sold on the Dark Web.

Educational Softwares are being used in classrooms across the world. Sites like Edmodo, Schoolzilla, and learning management systems at schools and universities are created in order to supplement the learning process. These softwares require kids to create accounts and post personal data online. This data can, and has repeatedly, been hacked ^[4].

Wearable Technology

Wearable Technologies like GPS-enabled smartwatches were also subjects of mass hackings. These watches, meant for parents to be able to track their children’s whereabouts, had no encryption, kept a default password, and were technologically vulnerable. This allowed for people to easily hack into the watch’s microphone and GPS service.

The Sproutling Baby Monitor

The Sproutling Baby Monitor is an ankle band for infants. The silicone band measures the infant’s heat rate or pulse, the baby’s temperature, and tracks the baby’s position and motion. The band can send alerts to a parent if the baby is rolled over through a connected smartphone app. Sproutling gathers other data like age and weight and has machine learning algorithms to estimate how long a baby should sleep or when they will wake. ^[7]

Responses

COPPA

There have been laws created in order to protect children and their rights when it comes to data and their online identity. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) ^[8] was created in 1998 requiring websites to include a privacy policy and instructions on when a child under 13 years of age must obtain consent from a parent in order to use a website. COPPA also set forth responsibilities a website has in order to protect a child’s online privacy and safety. This law was intended to protect children under 13 from the oftentimes negative nature of the internet, specifically the way marketers collect information on individuals online. This act meant to limit what marketers could collect on children. The privacy notice must be clearly written on the main page of the website or wherever the information is being collected. The notice must describe how to contact the site, how the personal information is going to be used, and whether third-party entities will get access to the data. “Verifiable parental consent” must also be obtained prior to the child using the website. This consent is typically done through emailing the parents. If a website does not comply with COPPA, there are penalties. In the case of noncompliance, there are fines up for $11,000 for each incident, plus probable bad publicity.

There have been complaints that COPPA compliance can be difficult and expensive. Obtaining parental consent can be complicated and attorneys may need to review compliance materials which can get costly. Due to this, many websites simply restrict access to individuals under 13 years of age or get rid of features that would force them to comply with COPPA like inputting personal information or engaging in a chat room.

GDPA

GDPA General Data Protection Regulation ^[9] in Europe is the main law that regulates how companies must protect its citizen’s data. Companies that fail to comply will be subject to penalties and fines. Some requirements of GDPA include the requirement of consent to data processing, anonymizing data, notifying users when there is a breach of data, and safely handling the data through transfers. This regulation says that data must be processs lawfully and transparently. Since this is a European regulation, any website that reaches any users in Europe must comply with GDPA, or they will remain inaccessible.

CCPA

This California Consumer Privacy Act is similar to GDPR ^[10], but it is an act that companies must comply with if they are in California. Since many tech giants are located in California, this law is meant to be far-reaching.

Ethical Concerns

Digital Kidnapping Profiling College These children will be profiled more just because there is more information on them online. It is argued that the effects that this datafication has on childhood well-being is still unknown and thus should be proceeded with caution. Some have argued that it can damage a child’s future well-being and have other negative implications.

References

1. ↑ Hern, Alex. "Digital Birth: Welcome to the Online World", Business Wire, 6 October 2010. Retrieved on 25 March 2020.
2. ↑ "Sharenting: Children's Privacy in the Age of Social Media", SSRN, 7 Jan 2016. Retrieved on 25 March 2020.
3. ↑ Hern, Alex. "CloudPets stuffed toys leak details of half a million users", The Guardian, 28 Feb 2017. Retrieved on 25 March 2020.
4. ↑ Watters, Audrey. "Hack Education: The Weaponization of Education Data", National Education Policy Center, 12 December 2017. Retrieved on 25 March 2020.
5. ↑ "The Rise of Pregnancy Apps and the Implications for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Women", US National Library of Medicine, 16 Nov 2018. Retrieved on 26 March 2020.
6. ↑ "Pregnancy monitoring from home – a device being trialled globally", Monash University, 16 Oct 2019. Retrieved on 26 March 2020.
7. ↑ "The Sproutling Is Like Fitbit for Your Baby—But Better", Time, 7 August 2014. Retrieved on 26 March 2020.
8. ↑ "Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule ("COPPA")", Federal Trade Commission. Retrieved on 25 March 2020.
9. ↑ "General Data Protection Regulation GDPR", Intersoft Consulting. Retrieved on 25 March 2020.
10. ↑ "California Consumer Privacy Act", State of California Department of Justice. Retrieved on 25 March 2020.