SNS and Children's Privacy

-- By JeanLee - 02 Mar 2013

The Exposed Generation

There were many reports in and around 2005 about concerns of social networking services (SNSs) such as MySpace putting children and teenagers in danger. Naive children were posting their real information online without the knowledge that such information may be abused and used against them in real crimes.

As chilling as those reports were, the use of the SNS continues to expand and nowadays, Facebook is reported to have one billion active reporters as of late 2012. The Europe Commission requested that the SNS providers should police children profiles in order to protect children from being victimized. However, the real abuse of the younger generation via SNS starts from a much younger age, even before the children can hold a mouse, or even sit up.

It is not unusual to see proud parents sharing the news of pregnancy and birth of their beloved children on Facebook. Through numerous posts and pictures, I am updated with all the major milestones a friend's (or even stranger's) baby accomplishes, and am informed of the baby or toddler's physical, psychological developments or challenges, their nature and characteristics, their schedules and hobbies and so on. This information, linked together with the parent's socio economic status, political views and philosophies (which are many times posted as well), provides a blueprint where the baby will stand socially or economically in the upcoming years.

Being commercially and politically nudged one way or the other by use of information I am responsible for scattering around is bad enough, but the risks for the upcoming generation is worse. By the time these children become socially or economically active, companies and the government will already be equipped to deal and manipulate them in so many ways. Abundant information that tracks individuals down to the minute they were born will already be available, some information the person may not even know about herself.

I suspect with the ever evolving data mining and utilizing techniques, by the time this generation that was exposed upon birth enters stage, companies will no longer be targeting consumers, they will be cultivating consumers. Companies and governments will be in a better position to shape the world in the eyes of this generation and foster consumers and citizens that match their agenda.

Protection of Children's Online Privacy

The current legislation concerning children's online privacy is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 6501-6508). According to the Federal Trade Commission, which has the authority to issue regulations and enforce COPPA, the primary goal of COPPA is to place parents in control over what information is collected from their young children online. Among others, the COPPA and its rules require parent consent and control of the collection of private information regarding children under 13.

COPPA may have functioned as an initial obstacle to collecting information regarding children, and invoked some awareness of the importance of protecting the privacy of our children. However, the effectiveness of such regulation is questionable. Facebook has announced that it is preparing to expand its service to include children under 13, mostly due to popular demand not only of the children but also many parents. Considering the irresponsible use of such services by the parents themselves, it is doubtful that their children will be properly shielded. In any case, in the near future we may be seeing even more accounts tracking even younger public.

Redefining SNS

As seen with COPPA, legislation is not always the most effective way to promote desirable actions or omissions. For a more fundamental change, it seems that there is a need to stop confusing SNS with a private social community. Maybe this will be clearer if the "social networking service" was renamed or at least conceived by the general public as something closer to a "micro publishing service." Despite the privacy settings (that really do not work), users should be reminded that their posts are made available not only to "friends," but potentially to the general public, and that potential dissemination is much far reaching than may be expected. The government and other commercial businesses also monitor the posts and any and all of the contents may be used for or against the writer. It may be more conceivable that using a micro publishing service to publish your or your children's life would be quite close to subjecting yourself or your children to a life very close to that of Jim Carrey's in "The Trueman Show."

With a more accurate understanding or definition of what kind of services (that is, publishing services) are provided and are being used despite the name SNS, people may be able to start using these services in a more appropriate way - using a publishing service as a publishing service, and not as a personal diary. They can stop using printing mills to publicly announce the developmental challenges of their poor child (under real name), and continue to use these services to publish meaningful contents that will reach their readers (who may or not be friends) and invoke interaction. Of course, anyone who publishes will need to bear any liabilities that the posts may entail.

The nature or function of the SNS has changed from a service to facilitate connections and communication with peers, to a spying/marketing tool, so much that the whole definition of the service should be redefined. Or then again, maybe the concept of an "SNS" was only a mask or misrepresentation to begin with.

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