How to ensure the protection of young consumers in a new digital world? A European perspective

Citation

Michel B#jot, M. (2013), "How to ensure the protection of young consumers in a new digital world? A European perspective", Young Consumers, Vol. 14 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/yc.2013.32114caa.003

How to ensure the protection of young consumers in a new digital world? A European perspective

Article Type: Legal briefing From: Young Consumers, Volume 14, Issue 3

Michel Béjot and Caroline BouvierMichel Béjot is a partner of the Paris-based firm Bernard Hertz Béjot. Caroline Bouvier is a senior associate at Bernard Hertz Béjot.

In Europe, 87 per cent of the children use the internet at home vs 63 per cent at school. A majority of them use social networks and such use increases with age: 59 per cent of those aged 9-16 years have a profile on a social network; 26 per cent of the 9-10 year olds and 81 per cent of 15-16 year olds.

These figures are a result a survey study, carried out in 2010, among a sample of approximately 25,000 children aged 9 to 16 among 25 EU countries[1].

Young consumers do represent a very large market that commercial companies tend to target through the internet and, in particular, through social networks, which are an efficient vehicle in light of the aforementioned study.

The European countries are thus concerned to develop as much protection as possible to ensure that such a vulnerable public can be preserved from unsolicited advertising, or, in the worst scenario, from illicit content or sexual predators.

The Safer Internet Program (1), as well as the European Parliament Resolution dedicated to the protection of children in the digital word (2) are examples of initiatives taken, at the European level, to enforce guidelines dedicated to the protection of young consumers in a digital word.

1. The Safer Internet Program – a global framework involving 30 European countries

The Safer Internet Program (created in 1999), carried out through the European Commission, aims at empowering and protecting children and young people online by awareness initiatives and by fighting illegal and harmful online content and conduct.

For instance the 2009-2013 Safer Internet Program, which benefits from a budget of €55 million, addresses the following challenges:

• •

  The rise of web 2.0 and its fast take-up by young people.

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  Mobile technologies.

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  The need for quality content online for young children.

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  Harmful conduct like grooming or cyber-bullying.

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  Child sexual abuse material available online.

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  The need for a knowledge base concerning children’s internet use and risks.

Safer Internet Centers have also been put in place in 30 European countries and support this program through the development of information/awareness raising material and the organization of sessions for children, parents and teachers.

The Safer Internet Centres are also responsible for promoting safe and responsible use of the internet and mobile devices by young people.

Further, the Safer Internet Program supports two annual events: the Safer Internet Day and the Safer Internet Forum.

The Safer Internet Day has therefore been celebrated since 2004 and involves more than 90 countries across the world. Held every second Tuesday in February, it is part of a global drive to empower young people and to rally a wide range of online safety stakeholders to the cause.

The tenth Safer Internet Day was celebrated worldwide on February 5, 2013, with the day focusing on online rights and responsibilities. As was the case in previous years, members of the public, schools, NGOs and other stakeholders all took part.

For instance, in France, 875 events have been organised in schools, education centres, public numeric spaces…etc., with the help of press and radio media promoting these events. The cumulative recorded audience (online press excluded) has been evaluated as approximately 97 million[2].

In France, the following stakeholders took the following actions:

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  The French data protection agency (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés, CNIL) issued a guideline dedicated to the parents and aiming at presenting the specific key issues to be addressed where young people do act over the internet[3].

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  Facebook France promoted the Safer Internet Day towards people from 13 years to 16 years on its social network.

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  Vivendi launched a temporary web-radio dedicated to the theme “online rights and liabilities” with reporting, interviews, discussions…etc.

At the European level, on February 5, 2013, in connection with the Safer Internet Day 2013 – “Connect with respect” event, the European Commission presented the results of the joint work of media, technology, telecom and online companies undertaken since their December 2011 commitment to make the internet a better and safer place for kids.

For instance, 29 leadings companies, the “Coalition” (examples of the members of the Coalition: Apple, LG Electronic, Nokia, Samsung…etc.) involved in this self-regulatory exercise have reported on how they will collectively set a new benchmark for child protection online. As a result of their commitment, all devices (including smartphones, tablets, computers and games consoles) could be equipped with parental control tools and screens with simple tools for users to report harmful content and contacts[4].

The Commission has undertaken to further work to support the coalition and its individual members, for instance through the promotion of the development of age recognition services, or the building of technical possibilities of EU-wide recognizable identity cards, as enabled by the draft legislation on eID.

2. The Resolution on the protection of children in the digital world, as enacted by the European Parliament on November 20, 2012

The European Parliament adopted (with a large majority), on November 20, 2012, a resolution on the protection of children in the digital world[5].

This Resolution comes across several actions carried out throughout Europe within the past years, such as the program of the Union in connection with the rights of the children, the digital strategy of Europe, the European Centre to fight cyber criminality, the European strategy to have internet better meet the children’s needs/interests…etc.

This Resolution does point out that the protection of children in the digital world must be addressed both from a legal standpoint (through more efficient measures, in particular in using self-regulation to have the industry sector assume its liabilities) and at an education and school level (through the education of children by the parents and teachers, so as to prevent minors from having access to illicit content).

This Resolution therefore highlights several actions plans such as:

1. 1.

   A framework of rights and governance: the Parliament points out that a new stage of protecting the rights of the child in the EU framework started with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, together with the now legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, whose Article 24 defines the protection of children as a fundamental right[6].The Parliament then addressed the need for the European Union to fully comply with the standards of the relevant international instruments and urges the Member States to implement all legal instruments in the area of the protection of minors in the digital world.

2. 2.

   Media and new media – access and education: while pointing out that the internet provides children and young people with immensely valuable tools, which can be used to express or assert their views, access information, learn and claim their rights, as well as being an excellent tool of communication, the Parliament also highlights the inherent risks for the most vulnerable users, such as child pornography, the exchange of material on violence, cybercrime, intimidation, bullying, grooming, children being able to access or acquire legally restricted or age-inappropriate goods and services, exposure to age-inappropriate, aggressive or misleading advertising, scams, etc.

3. 3.

   Right to protection: the Parliament outlines its vision of protecting children from the dangers of the internet. It focuses on the following measures:

4. 4.
   • •

     Fighting illicit content. The Parliament notably regrets that the agreement, signed on February 9, 2009 between the Commission and 17 social networks sites (including Facebook and Myspace) and promoting the protection and the security of minors online, has not been complied with.Indeed only two social networking sites (Bebo and MySpace) tested on behalf of the European Commission have default settings to make minors’ profiles accessible only to their approved list of contacts and only four sites ensure that minors can be contacted by default by friends only (Bebo, MySpace, Netlog and SchuelerVZ)[7].

   • •

     Fighting harmful content. The Parliament considers that it is urgent for the Commission to examine the effectiveness of the various systems for voluntary classification of content unsuitable for minors in the Members States. The following measures are therefore the establishment of the European Framework for Safer Mobile Use by exploiting the options that facilitate parental control.

   • •

     Protection of privacy. Although the Parliament welcomes the new proposal for a Regulation on personal data protection and its special provisions on children’s consent and the right to be forgotten, which bans the preservation online of information on the personal data of minors which may pose a risk to their personal and professional life, it calls for further clarification. It considers that owners and administrators of web pages should set forth in a clear and visible way their data protection policy and should provide for a system of mandatory parental consent for the processing of data of children under the age of 13.

The aforementioned initiatives have been welcome by the European countries, and as far as the Parliament Resolution on the protection of children on the digital word is concerned, by most members of the European Parliament.

For instance, Jim Higgins, Member of the European Parliament’s Bureau for Ireland (Group of the European People’s Party; Christian Democrats) did perfectly summarise the key issues that need to be addressed in order to ensure the protection of young consumers in connection with their online activities:

[…] the internet can be very dangerous for inexperienced and naive web surfers who face various risks such as the violation of privacy, the commercial or other use of their profiles, health dangers, dependence phenomena and a distorted relationship with reality and their own identity.

The action, at a European level, through:

• •

  the enactment of a more comprehensive legal framework;

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  the development of self-regulation; but also

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  the provision of education to the young consumers by their parents and teachers, should help achieving results in the coming years.

But this will imply that the industry sector does “play the game”, for instance the social network sites which seem to have undertaken to go in the right direction in 2009 with, in the end, mitigated results assessed in February 2013.

The question remains as to whether the Safer Internet Day 2013 – “Connect with respect” event, but also the EU Resolution enacted on November 2012, will help achieving such an important goal.

Notes

1.“Risk and safety on the internet, the perspective of European Children”. Report available at: www2.cnrs.fr/sites/communique/fichier/rapportenglish.pdf

2. Figures available at: www.internetsanscrainte.fr/le-projet/safer-internet-day-2013-bilan

3. Document issued by the CNIL, available at: www.internetsanscrainte.fr/pdf/docs/GuideparentUNAFCNIL.pdf

4. Safer Internet Day 2013 – “Connect with respect” – Press Release of the European Commission, February 5, 2013.

5. Text available at: www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/seancepleniere/textesadoptes/provisoire/2012/11-20/0428/P7TA-PROV(2012)0428EN.pdf

6. Charter available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:083:0389:0403:EN:PDF

7. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-releaseIP-11-762en.htm: Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission for the Digital Agenda said: “I am disappointed that most social networking sites are failing to ensure that minors’ profiles are accessible only to their approved contacts by default. I will be urging them to make a clear commitment to remedy this in a revised version of the self-regulatory framework we are currently discussing. This is not only to protect minors from unwanted contacts but also to protect their online reputation. Youngsters do not fully understand the consequences of disclosing too much of their personal lives online. Education and parental guidance are necessary, but we need to back these up with protection until youngsters can make decisions based on full awareness of the consequences.”

Acknowledgements

Published in conjunction with the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (www.gala-marketlaw.com). GALA is an alliance of lawyers located throughout the world specializing in advertising law.

Corresponding author

Michel Béjot can be contacted at: mbejot@bhbfrance.com