Here is a fact sheet on the "Right to be Forgotten" ruling in the EU, which is based on a complaint from a Spanish citizen whose repossessed home appeared in a Google search after his debt was paid. The law gives anyone the right their data removed from search engines if they have reasonable cause.
Steinberg mentions in her forthcoming article "Sharenting: Children's Privacy in the Age of Social Media" that parents have chosen to discipline their children through displaying their wrongdoings on the internet and publicly shaming them (Steinberg 14).
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| Image retrieved from http://myriverside.sd43.bc.ca/joeld2016/2016/09/25/digital-footprint/. |
Just as the Spanish citizen paid off their debt, should a child's wrongdoing exist on the internet after they have lived out the consequences of their action?
Furthermore, this law only applies to searching. Anything posted on the internet can be saved by any user with access to that information. This law still does not give children the right to information shared about them before they reach the age of consent.
Any thoughts on this? Can and should a child's digital footprint be removed upon their request?
It's really interesting for linking this issue with EU's right to be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that even this regulation actually applies to sharenting problem, it doesn't allow children to decide what information being posted by themselves before reaching consent age.
However, I find sharenting indeed shares similar features like the Spanish citizen case. Both the subject's personal information was being disclosed a long time ago, and the context is already different.
In addition, putting restriction on searching instead of information on the website could eschew problem of censorship, so is quite practical, affordable and efficient.
So I think right to be forgotten should be applied when children grow up requesting it.