PARENTS
“Privacy is a human right – treat it with care”* As a parent there is a fine balance to strike between protecting children and empowering them. Children and young people are very resourceful and will often find ways to access the material that they want as well as engage in different types of social communication. One child during a recent school seminar on esafety pointed out that he had two Facebook profiles. When asked why, he replied “I have the real one that I use every day and then the one that I show my parents!” Good communication has to be the best form of protection that you can give your children. Children are inquisitive and they will encounter risks on the internet, just as they will in the offline world. Exposure to risk is what helps our children to mature and become responsible adults. They need to be able to experiment and challenge their boundaries, but they must also know where they can go for help if something goes wrong. Whereas with younger children, your role as a parent can be supported by the use of technical tools such as parental controls to accompany the rules you set, as young people enter their teens empowerment and media enjoyment starts with healthy and robust dialogue about topics such as privacy and online activities. Privacy is a fundamental human right. It underpins human dignity and other values such freedom of speech. It has become one of the most important human rights of the modern age. How do parents define privacy? “As a parent you worry about your children (or their friends) making things public on internet that could one day make them feel very ashamed or unhappy or have a big impact on their life. But this isn’t normally something that you discuss unless it happens within their close circle of friends.” (Anthony (Netherlands) parent of 16 and 19 year old boys.) “Privacy is the right to choose which aspects of your life are public and which are private. We need to teach our kids to respect theirs and others privacy and learn to grow up in a society that is very different to when we were kids. As a parent I want to know how I can guide my children to do this. When I think about the technology kids have at their disposal today and set my mind back to when I was a boy I am indeed worried by the potential situations my son could find himself in.” (Guillaume, Belgium) How do children and young people define privacy? “When you are on your own in cyberspace, privacy is being able to do what you want without people butting in.” (Nicholas – 13) “It’s being able to do things online without anyone seeing or knowing what you’re doing.” Rachel 11 We know children and young people are taking risks, pushing boundaries and engaging in activities that parents might not approve of. However, this has always gone on in the real world. Trust is important and parents who monitor too closely are likely to be told only what their children want them to hear. What are children and young people really doing online? Research tells us that they are
So, do you as a parent or carer need to understand all of this in order to keep your children safe? Probably not, but you could:
You probably talk to your children about keeping their money safe when they are out, about making sure they lock the front door to the house and so on. Have a similar conversation about the importance of passwords, about never revealing too much personal information that could result in people being able to impersonate them and steal their online identity. You will also have discussions about the way they behave when they leave the house. Do the same for their online world – remind them that they need to be careful about the things that they post online – explain to them that the internet will never forget! Talk to them about the possible consequences of posting pictures that could embarrass them or their friends... What you need to know. “Children have the right to get and share information as long as the information is not damaging to them or to others.” (Article 13 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) “Children have a right to privacy. The law should protect them from attacks against their way of life, their good name....” (Article 16 UNCRC) Young people must be aware that it is their choice how much information they disclose about themselves when they communicate with others. They can often be vulnerable, as they do not understand some of the complexities about risk. There can be a risk from paedophiles and predators if they give out too much personal information, but the biggest concern is that once something is posted on the internet, it is very hard (if not impossible) to remove. Make sure children are aware of not sharing information that should be kept private in a public website; email address, real address, real name, phone number… Advise them to use a fun alias instead of their real name online. It is important that you and your children understand how your information will be used and what you have consented to when you agree to the terms and conditions you find on internet. How do you protect your own privacy? Some hints and tips for getting the best out of the web
More information The Council of Europe has published a fact sheet on privacy that is part of the internet literacy handbook. It contains useful suggestions on keeping personal information private. The European Commission has a useful website which explains what your rights as a citizen are. This information can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/guide/index_en.htm Every year a Data Protection Day Competition runs from October until January inviting young people to create videos or multimedia presentations about privacy. The competition is aimed at 15-19 year olds who live in one of the member states of the EU. Further details can be found at www.dataprotectionday.eu Insert YouTube video clip Starting points for discussion Some of the scenarios below may provide a good starting point for discussion. It is highly likely that your children have either had online experiences of privacy breaches or know someone who this has happened to.
You and a group of friends go to a party; pictures of the party are posted online in various places. Some of these show you in what could be described as embarrassing situations. You were only messing around but taken out of context these pictures could cause you problems. You didn’t post any of these pictures but they have been tagged and are easily accessible. Although you know some of the people who were at the party you don’t know them all and the images seem to be everywhere. What are the implications of this and what action could you take to prevent this from causing you problems? Although in the short term this might not cause too many difficulties, consider the potential impact this could have in the future. Encourage your children to think carefully about how the way the material that is posted online can have consequences in the real world. It doesn’t matter who posted the material in the first place, if it exists then the damage may already be done.
A good friend has been barred from the school internet and asks if he/she can use your username and password to log in to do some research for a project. You give the information but later discover that your friend left the password on a piece of paper in the computer room and it has now disappeared. What could the consequences be? What should you do? Discuss passwords and security of data with your children. Do they appreciate the need to be more careful? What are the possible dangers of not keeping this sort of personal information safe? Could the video on the www.dataprotectionday.eu website encourage them to think about the possible consequences of this? More scenarios can be found in the student toolkit available on the www.dataprotectionday.eu website. FAQ: When I publish information to the web, who does this information belong to? It is important to read the terms and conditions of a website before posting any information there. The terms and conditions will make clear what happens to your data and who it then belongs to. In some cases, you still own the data but the company who is hosting it on the web has permission to copy, modify the file etc. Who owns an image of me? It is important to recognise who legally owns an image in the first instance. The person who actually takes a photo owns that image, regardless of what is in the image. If you post a picture that you did not take yourself, then you should have the permission of the person who took the image initially before you can post it. What rights do I have over an image of me that has been placed online? If an image of you has been taken in public by someone else, you have very little rights to control what happens to it. The image legally belongs to the person who took it. This is based around the argument that you did something in public and in theory anyone could have seen you do this. However, if an image or video of you is used to endorse a product or is used to advertise something then you have rights to be able to stop this from happening. If I post something anonymously on the internet is it really anonymous? You are not invisible on the internet, even if it feels like it. All internet users leave a digital footprint. Every computer has an IP address and a network adapter or network interface card will have a MAC address and this is often the key to finding out who sent specific information etc. How much information is there about me online? Have you ever tried to google yourself? Put your name into a search engine and see what you find? Does it present an accurate picture of you? Have others posted things about you or tagged you in an image? How can I delete information about me online?
Useful sources of further information http://www.saferinternet.org/ww/en/pub/insafe/safety_issues/faqs/privacy.htm * Note: the contents of the DPD student, parent and teacher kits are mainly intended for use with young people aged 13 years onwards.
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DATAPROTECTIONDAY
DPD 2010 - Think privacy!
