New EU measures needed to make online services safer for minors | News | European Parliament came to our attention.
I would like to source arguments on this topic in preparation of a response.
My personal stance is that the guardians of children should have this liberty, not up to any government, on how they keep their children safe.
And would parents authenticate to a platform that, according to the wording: âunless authorised by parentsâ, should be accessible to their child(ren)? Suddenly the need for storing and maintaining a list of authorized guardians (per child) arises. I donât see how this would work in practice without giving up the data on family ties for all children.
A response from @Matthijs
Als apps een âparental controlsâ optie bieden, is dat al genoeg toch? Zonder dataverzameling. De data die ze verzamelen is hoogstens dat bij een user deze âcontrolsâ zijn ingesteld. Maar er zijn ook genoeg volwassenen die schermtijd instellen voor zichzelf, en behoefte hebben hun algoritme te tweaken. Nu kan je ook al âgevoelige contentâ aan of uit zetten verschillende platforms.
Natuurlijk kunnen kinderen âstiekemâ een app installeren, maar het is aan ouders en hun keuzes in opvoeding of ze daar inzage in eisen en instellingen willen maken. Net als dat kinderen in de fysieke wereld âstiekemâ naar plekken kunnen gaan waar ze van hun ouders niet mogen komen of dingen doen die ze niet mogen doen, is het aan ouders in hoeverre ze daarop willen controleren (Totale controle met bijpassende technische opties is wat mij betreft onnodig en onwenselijk. IK denk zelf dat een gezonde balans met relatief veel vrijheid voor die kinderen het beste is, maar ik heb dan ook makkelijk praten..)
Machine translation:
If apps offer a âparental controlsâ option, thatâs enough, right? Without data collection. The data they collect is at most that these âcontrolsâ are set for a user. But there are also plenty of adults who set screen time for themselves, and need to tweak their algorithm. Now you can also turn âsensitive contentâ on or off - on different platforms.
Of course, children can âsecretlyâ install an app, but it is up to parents and their choices in parenting whether they want to access requirements and institutions there. Just as children in the physical world can âsecretlyâ go to places where their parents are not allowed to go or do things they are not allowed to do, it is up to parents to what extent they want to control that (Total control with matching technical options is unnecessary and undesirable in my opinion. I myself think that a healthy balance with relatively much freedom is best for those children, but I also have easy talk..)
Hereâs a link to an analysis by Edri of the age verification issue. The position expressed is very close to what our MEPs have argued in the European Parliament in the past. Which might not be entirely surprising given that Simeon de Brouwer, the EDRI staffer who wrote that text, used to work in the office of Pirate MEP Patrick Breyer, and that age verification is a topic that weâve seen discussed in the European Parliament on a number of occasions over the years.
The text also have a âfor more informationâ section that includes a link to an EFF position paper that I also find very insightful on the topic, and that is also in line with the views of the European Pirates.
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