British efforts to secure children online / protect children from virtual work – Mehr News Agency | Iran and world’s news
According to the Mehr reporter, Britain is one of the leading countries in the field of protecting the rights of children in cyberspace. In the last year or two, the country has tried to protect children in cyberspace by putting pressure on large technology companies as well as enacting new laws. Last year, the UK implemented the “Appropriate Age Plan” law to monitor the performance of online services on children’s data, which was well received.
To avoid this law, companies must prove that children do not use their services at all. Otherwise, they must provide their services in full compliance with the rules or try to identify and treat young users with caution.
The law requires companies to collect minimum data about children. The law also requires them to provide children with options by default to ensure their maximum safety.
15 standards for child protection
The Adequate Age Plan was written in 2018 as part of the Data Protection Act (UK version of the EU General Data Protection Regulations). According to it, websites and apps must consider the interests of children, otherwise they face a penalty of up to 4% of their global revenue per year.
These rules contain 15 standards that large companies are required to comply with.
The law targets apps, websites, video games, social networks, and Internet-connected toys.
These 15 standards are as follows:
1. Considering the interests of the child: The design and development of the web should be such that it considers the interests of the children.
2. Assessing the impact of data protection: Assessing and mitigating the risks to the rights and freedoms of children requesting services through data processing. This section is considered according to age, capacity and needs.
3. Appropriate age plan: Includes a risk-based approach to determining the age of individual users and ensuring that standards are strictly applied to children. Providers should therefore use user age determination methods or otherwise apply child standards to all users.
4. Transparency: According to this section, the information and explanations of the service providers regarding the privacy conditions of their program or service should be simple and understandable for the age group of children. The purpose of this section is to ensure that children understand the amount and type of information that companies and platforms use.
5. Malicious use of data: Platforms are required to use children’s personal data in a way that does not pose a threat to them or is in conflict with other government regulations.
6. Community Policies and Standards: Platforms must adhere to policies, policies and social standards such as age restrictions and content principles.
7. Default settings: The default settings and design of websites and applications, except in very rare and logical cases, should be based on maximum privacy.
8. Minimize data collection: According to this section, online services and platforms must collect the minimum personal information needed to provide services from children. Accordingly, they should ask children which parts of the program they intend to activate and base their information on it.
9. Data Sharing: Children’s data should not be disclosed, except in special cases and for compelling reasons.
10. Location Tracker Off: Location options must be turned off by default for child users and notify the child with a clear sign when it is on. Location must also be turned off automatically after each use by the child.
11. Parental Control: Online services should provide the child with appropriate information about parental control capabilities on each of their platforms and inform the child with a clear signal when they are being monitored.
12. Lack of account evaluation and analysis: The ability to record, analyze, and analyze children’s account information, which is typically done by companies to personalize profiles or collect big data, should be disabled by default and only in cases where Very necessary and to be used for a compelling reason.
13. Avoid flip techniques: Technology companies should refrain from using any means to encourage children to provide unnecessary personal information on the Internet.
۱۴. Toys and devices connected to the Internet: If companies produce and supply toys and devices connected to the Internet, they must ensure that their operation fully complies with the age instructions of children.
۱۵. Online tools: Adequate tools should be provided to help children with privacy and report concerns and problems.
Changes in social networks in response to the new law
“This trend shows that technology companies are no exception,” said Bieban Kidron, one of the people who introduced the law. The exceptional situation defined for them in the previous decade showed that they were different from other companies, but given that their business is now commercial, this distinction has disappeared. Businesses must be secure and law-abiding in order to protect vulnerable users.
“One in five internet users in the UK is a child, but they are using a space that is not designed for them,” said Elizabeth Denham, the UK’s information commissioner.
However, the law prompted large corporations to avoid heavy fines, as well as to comply with British law, and to make significant changes to children in the weeks leading up to the law.
TIC Tac Implemented changes that limited sharing options for children under 18 years of age.
At Google A new policy has been implemented that allows people under the age of 18 or their parents to submit a request to remove images from search results. The company also completely disabled location history for children. This service maintains a record of user traffic.
Youtube It has also updated its default privacy settings and turned off the autoplay option for users aged 13 to 17.
At Facebook Changes have been made to protect users under the age of 18 from targeted ads, with stricter sharing settings by default and guarding against suspicious user accounts.
Activator of Instagram account control tools in the UK
A few days ago, Instagram announced that it had added parental control capabilities to teen accounts in the UK and Ireland. With the help of this tool, parents can monitor their children’s profiles, set daily limits for using the app, and also see who is following them.
The feature was first introduced in the US in March and requires parents to monitor their account by sending an invitation to their children. Once the invitation is approved, the parent can set daily limits for how long the teen will spend on the app and rest periods at certain times.
The tools also allow parents to see who is following their child, as well as their followers, and gain information about when the teen is reporting an account or posting on the platform. In addition, parents will be able to view a dashboard that shows the teen’s daily habits on the platform. According to Instagram, when a teenager reaches the age of 18, parental supervision capabilities end automatically. The social network is also testing a new feature that helps users, especially teens, become more aware of how to use the social network.
Protecting children from virtual work
On the other hand, the implementation of this law was the beginning of newer laws to protect underage users. A few months after the enactment of the Appropriate Age Plan, following the publication of a report by the British Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) on influencer culture, the government was asked to enact employment and advertising laws to protect children, spectators and influencers. And empower people who plan online.
MPs recommended that children, parents and schools should support the development of media literacy, and that advertising laws for children should be more prominent.
On the other hand, child labor law in the UK needs to be updated to include the growing number of child influencers.
In this report, the delegates called for the creation of guidelines for influencer marketing. In addition, the report calls on the British government to conduct research into the influenza ecosystem so that appropriate legislation can be enacted and managed as it expands.
Advertising regulators also need to have more authority to enforce advertising laws and close gaps.
According to the report, the wave of legislation and pressure on large technology companies in the UK has intensified to keep the younger generation away from online risks. Therefore, it seems that the laws and strictures in the future, in addition to putting pressure on social networks and large technology companies, will make the online space of this country a safer environment for underage users, and on the other hand, the methods of abusing this generation. It is more limited.