A growing awareness of the need for online privacy protection has led several states to pass privacy legislation, and others where no law yet exists are introducing bills to address this issue.
Momentum has accelerated on these actions over the past two years. While there is still a long way to go before effective laws are in place in all 50 states, it now seems more likely than not that this will someday be the case.
Perhaps in anticipation of this, legislators focused on privacy issues are now moving on to the next crusade – extending this protection (and enhancing it) for children.
Recently Passed Legislation
Earlier this month, California introduced Assembly Bill 801 on Student Privacy: Online Personal Information. The bill would amend the Learning Personal Information Protection Act and the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act and provide additional requirements with respect to personal information businesses collect. Those who operate websites, online services, and online and mobile applications would be restricted from selling a K-12 pupil’s information, or disclosing covered information, unless in a limited number of exceptional circumstances.
In Virginia, Senate Bill 361 would add new protections for children to the state’s existing Consumer Data Protection Act.
Growing Concerns
Sharing children's private information is an issue that has largely been unreported. However, more parents became aware of the risk during COVID, when schools closed and switched to online learning tools. According to Human Rights Watch, of the 164 learning products in use that were reviewed across 49 countries, 146 (89%) appeared to engage in data practices that "risked or infringed on children's rights."
Neither parents nor students had the opportunity to provide their consent for these extensive invasions of privacy, which included collecting data on every student’s identity, location, online activity, and information about their family and friends. No other option was given for school attendance.
Prior to starting 360Civic more than ten years ago, I was the founder and CEO of a company called eGuardian that focused exclusively on protecting minors online. In that capacity, I addressed the National Association of Attorneys General on the importance of this issue. Today, while our client base is primarily comprised of thousands of judges, law enforcement officers, social workers and municipal employees, the necessity to safeguard children and students remains one of our primary pursuits – that is why our service extends to the families of the adults under our protection.
We will continue to track all current legislation and other efforts nationwide to keep children safer online.
How We Can Help
Our IronWall360 privacy team uses proprietary software to locate the private information of our clients anywhere it may be published or made available online. This is not just about stopping advertisers from pitching products directly to your kids through their emails or social media accounts. In the families of judges and police officers, it’s also about criminals and those with a grudge not being able to find your home address and phone number, and use it to unleash harassment, vandalism and violence.
Children are entitled by law to this protection – but laws only work if someone enforces them.
That’s what we do.
