The child’s right to privacy, data protection and protection from commercial exploitation re-visited
Dr. Valerie Verdoodt & Prof. Eva Lievens, 10 January 2020, Maastricht Workshop Digitalisation, Ethics and EU Fundamental Rights
Children grow up in an AI environment
Technology plays (or will play) a role in almost every aspect of their lives
Play and entertainment
Education and homework
Babysitting and safekeeping
Doing chores
Interaction and socialising
Media consumption
Health and sports
… Children growing up today
are a datafied generation Children growing up today
are a datafied generation
Substantial impact on children’s lives and their fundamental rights
Play
Privacy
Freedom of expression, thought
Well-being and development
Education, privacy literacy
Protection against economic exploitation
How can we protect children’s rights?
“There is a need for guidelines for AI technologies that take children’s rights into account, not only for the government and the private sector but also for parents and educators.”
“There is a need for guidelines for AI technologies that take children’s rights into account, not only for the government and the private sector but also for parents and educators.”
2018 Internet Governance Forum
Children’s rights and the General Data Protection Regulation
GDPR has left some important questions unanswered:
- What is fair processing of children’s data (art 5 GDPR)?
- To what extent does profiling and automated decision- making harm child development and should be
restricted (art 22 GDPR)?
- How can we set up child-friendly information provision mechanisms (art 12 GDPR)?
Inspiration from the Council of Europe Recommendation 2018(7)
37. Profiling of children, … , should be prohibited by law.
In exceptional circumstances, States may lift this
restriction when it is in the best interests of the child … 57. “States should take measures to ensure that children are protected from commercial exploitation in the digital environment, …, and requiring all relevant stakeholders to limit the processing of children’s personal data for
commercial purposes.”
!! UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Draft General Comment on Children’s Rights in the Digital Environment
!! UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Draft General Comment on Children’s Rights in the Digital Environment
Rethinking the child’s right to protection from economic exploitation (Article 32 UNCRC)
Economic Exploitation
Protection from
child labour Other forms of exploitation?
Profiling (van der Hof, 2016)
Targeting with exploitative ads
(Verdoodt &
Lievens 2017)
Other forms?
Postdoc Research
Material interest
Taking unjust advantage
