From universal towards child-specific protection of the right to privacy online: Dilemmas in the EU General Data Protection Regulation

The new European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation aims to adapt children’s right to privacy to the ‘digital age’. It explicitly recognizes that children deserve specific protection of their personal data, and introduces additional rights and safeguards for children. This article explores the dilemmas that the introduction of the child-tailored online privacy protection regime creates – the ‘empowerment versus protection’ and the ‘individualized versus average child’ dilemmas. It concludes that by favouring protection over the empowerment of children, the Regulation risks limiting children in their online opportunities, and by relying on the average child criteria, it fails to consider the evolving capacities and best interests of the child.

[1]  Alessandro Mantelero.  A New Paradigm for Data Protection. , 2014 .

[2]  J. Eekelaar.  THE EMERGENCE OF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS , 1986 .

[3]  Sonia Livingstone,et al.  Gradations in digital inclusion: children, young people and the digital divide , 2007, New Media Soc..

[4]  M. Freeman.  The Rights and Wrongs of Children , 1983 .

[5]  Julie E. Cohen.  Configuring the Networked Self - Law, Code, and the Play of Everyday Practice , 2012 .

[6]  H. Stalford.  Children and the European Union: Rights, Welfare and Accountability , 2012 .

[7]  Milda Macenaite,et al.  Protecting children's privacy online: a critical look to four European self-regulatory initiatives , 2016, Eur. J. Law Technol..

[8]  Mark Leiser,et al.  AstroTurfing, 'CyberTurfing' and other online persuasion campaigns , 2016, Eur. J. Law Technol..

[9]  M. Douglas.  Rules and Meanings , 1973 .

[10]  danah boyd,et al.  It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens , 2014 .

[11]  C. McGlynn.  Rights for Children?: The Potential Impact of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights , 2002, European Public Law.

[12]  S. Gilmore,et al.  Hayes and Williams' Family Law , 2014 .

[13]  Mireille Hildebrandt,et al.  Profiling and the rule of law , 2008 .

[14]  S. Hof.  No Child’s Play: Online Data Protection for Children , 2014 .

[15]  Tse Pik-chu.  Privacy in the Family , 2013 .

[16]  The EU, children under 13 years, and parental consent: a human rights analysis of a new, age-based bright-line for the protection of children on the Internet , 2015 .

[17]  Bart Schermer,et al.  Minding Minors Wandering the Web: Regulating Online Child Safety , 2014 .

[18]  J. Dijck.  The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media , 2013 .

[19]  Jo Pierson,et al.  Online Privacy in Social Media: A Conceptual Exploration of Empowerment and Vulnerability , 2012 .

[20]  G. Lansdown.  The Evolving Capacities of the Child , 2005 .

[21]  Danah Boyd,et al.  Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in social media , 2014, New Media Soc..

[22]  Derechos Internacionales y Exteriores.  Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights , 2010 .

[23]  Jacob van Kokswijk.  Digital Ego: Social and legal aspects of virtual identity , 2007 .

[24]  G. Scarre.  Children and Paternalism , 1980, Philosophy.

[25]  Global Kids Online.  One in three: internet governance and children’s rights , 2016 .

[26]  B. Newell,et al.  Privacy in the family , 2015 .

[27]  Bart W. Schermer,et al.  The crisis of consent: how stronger legal protection may lead to weaker consent in data protection , 2014, Ethics and Information Technology.

[28]  L. Haddon,et al.  Risks and safety on the internet: the perspective ofEuropean children. Full findings. , 2011 .

[29]  Data Protection for Youth in the Digital Age: Developing a Rights-based Global Framework , 2015 .

[30]  M. Freeman.  Laws, conventions and rights , 2007 .

[31]  Federal Trade Commission Privacy Law and Policy , 2016 .

[32]  L. Haddon,et al.  Risks and safety on the internet: the perspective of European children: key findings from the EU Kids Online survey of 9-16 year olds and their parents in 25 countries , 2010 .

[33]  Benjamin Shmueli,et al.  Privacy for Children , 2011 .

[34]  WORKING PAPER 2000 : 1 CHILDREN AS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS , 2000 .

[35]  R. Mansell.  From Digital Divides to Digital Entitlements in Knowledge Societies , 2002 .

[36]  Alessandro Mantelero.  Children online and the future EU data protection framework: empirical evidences and legal analysis , 2016 .

[37]  Lois Ann Scheidt,et al.  It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens , 2015, New Media Soc..