Children’s Online Privacy
A simple toy can brighten up a child’s life. They hold onto it. They treasure it. It goes with them everywhere.
Now give that toy a camera.
It follows them.
It watches them.
It records everything they do.
Child-focused industries have been going behind our back, watching young children and collecting information on those who cannot defend themselves. For years, companies have collected data on citizens to create a data profile for financial gain. Recently, they’ve started pushing the limits of what is acceptable by collecting, analyzing, sharing, and using the data of minors.
Companies that families trust are violating their privacy and that of their young children. Even though there are laws in place to keep children safe against this, technology develops so rapidly that it can be difficult for the laws to keep pace. Therefore, there’s an ever growing need to protect our children when they’re online.
“Children get bored at toys easily, no matter how fancy they are. But AI is living, and ever changing.”
Real Examples of Violations
These accusations aren’t baseless. There have been many lawsuits over the years that claim well known companies knowingly and regularly violate children’s privacy, exploiting children for profit. The examples that follow are merely a sampling of what’s occurred to the detriment of our children.
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In 2017, Disney was accused of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). The claims stated about 42 of their gaming apps violate the act. Class action lawsuits have been filed against Disney for these privacy violations. Though they maintain their innocence, this is not the first allegation against them.
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VTech, an electronic toy creator, was brought to court in 2018, after having violated several children’s privacy laws, including COPPA and Federal Trade Commission guidelines. Their app, ”Kid Connect”, spread across all of their electronic devices, harvests information from their young users without the consent or knowledge of their guardians. They also took shortcuts with their security measures, leaving this data vulnerable. They settled, paying out only $650,000.
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In Philadelphia, the Lower Merion School District came under fire when they were caught using the webcams on the laptops they gave to their students. They used the cameras to spy on students, monitoring what they were doing online and away from school. They took screengrabs and captured photos of the students while they were in the supposed privacy of their own bedroom. This invasion of privacy cost the school around $610 thousand dollars in lawsuit payouts.