An open letter was written in the UK by MPs, academics and children's rights advocates. The aim of the letter is to end advertising to users ageς κάτω των 18 ετών και απευθύνεται σε μεγάλες εταιρείες technologyς όπως το Facebook και η Google.
Among those who signed were MP Caroline Lucas, Amnesty International, International Privacy and Friends of the Earth.
The letter was published a few days ago after filing a lawsuit against Google which accuses it of breaching UK and EU data protection laws by targeting under-13s with addictive content and using data they obtained for advertising purposes. The letter calls on companies to protect all children under the age of 18.
An excerpt from the open letter reads as follows:
Η συμπεριφορική διαφήμιση υπονομεύει το απόρρητο των παιδιών. Για άτομα κάτω των 13 ετών, δεν θα πρέπει να συμβαίνει καθόλου: εκτός εάν δοθεί σαφής γονική συγκατάθεση, οι νόμοι περί προστασίας δεδομένων απαγορεύουν ρητά την εξέταση δεδομένων από μικρά παιδιά από τα οποία (δεδομένα) εξαρτάται η συμπεριφορική διαφήμιση. Το γεγονός ότι οι διαφημιστικές εταιρείες και οι εταιρείες τεχνολογίας κατέχουν 72 εκατομμύρια δεδομένα για ένα παιδί μέχρι τη στιγμή που γίνει 13 ετών, δείχνει την έκταση της αδιαφορίας για αυτούς τους νόμους και την εξαιρετική monitoring to which children are subjected.
But our worries extend beyond the very small and beyond the issues of privacy. Children of all ages are more sensitive to the pressures of marketing, and are less likely to recognize paid content and less likely to understand how and what kind of data is used for these purposes than adults.
In the case of Google, the company allows all users to turn off ad personalization from their account settings.
To address some of the concerns raised by the signatories, the company could very easily have this setting turned off for all child accounts.
While this will not completely address Google monitoring, it will eliminate the problem of behavioral advertising.
https://www.globalactionplan.org.uk
