Prevent children becoming victims of a data-driven world
It is becoming increasingly common to collect data from children and young people through digital means. The impact of this so-called ‘dataveillance’ on children, who are monitored from birth via smartphones and Fitbits, is great.
So much is being monitored, that childhood is gradually being overshadowed by ‘dataveillance’. The security and privacy risks are now well known. But one question is rarely asked: what does it mean for children to live in a world where data increasingly defines who they are?
The impact is great, research shows. Therefore, children’s rights should be more central when it comes to the design of technology. Simone van der Hof (Professor of Law and the Information Society), Ton Liefaard (Professor of Children’s Rights) and Remco Pijpers (specialist in digital literacy and ethics at the Kennisnet Foundation) argue in favour of this in an opinion piece published in Dutch newspaper Volkskrant.