In my most recent weekly Forbes column, “Common Sense About Kids, Facebook & The Net,” I consider the wisdom of an online petition that the child safety advocacy group Common Sense Media is pushing, which demands that Facebook give up any thought of letting kids under the age of 13 on the site. “There is absolutely no proof of any meaningful social or educational value of Facebook for children under 13,” their petition insists. “Indeed, there are very legitimate concerns about privacy, as well as its impact on children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development.” Common Sense Media doesn’t offer any evidence to substantiate those claims, but one can sympathize with some of the general worries. Nonetheless, as I argue in my essay:
Common Sense Media’s approach to the issue is short-sighted. Calling for a zero-tolerance, prohibitionist policy toward kids on Facebook (and interactive media more generally) is tantamount to a bury-your-head-in-sand approach to child safety. Again, younger kids are increasingly online, often because their parents allow or even encourage it. To make sure they get online safely and remain safe, we’ll need a different approach than Common Sense Media’s unworkable “just-say-no” model.
Think about it this way: Would it make sense to start a petition demanding that kids be kept out of town squares, public parks, or shopping malls? Most of us would find the suggestion ludicrous. Continue reading →
Yesterday’s 7-2 decision in Brown v. EMA [summaries here from me + Berin Szoka] was one of those historic First Amendment rulings that tends to bring out passions in people. You either loved it or hated it. But it’s sad to see some critics on the losing end of the case declaring that only greed could have possibly motivated the Court’s decision.
For example, California Senator Leland Yee, the author of the law that the Supreme Court struck down yesterday, obviously wasn’t happy about the outcome of the case. Neither was James Steyer, CEO of the advocacy group Common Sense Media, who has been a vociferous advocate of the California law and measures like it. What they had to say in response to the decision, however, was outlandish and juvenile. In essence, they both claimed that the Supreme Court only struck down the law to make video game developers and retailers happy.
“Unfortunately, the majority of the Supreme Court once again put the interests of corporate America before the interests of our children,” Leland Yee said in a post on his website yesterday. “As a result of their decision, Wal-Mart and the video game industry will continue to make billions of dollars at the expense of our kids’ mental health and the safety of our community. It is simply wrong that the video game industry can be allowed to put their profit margins over the rights of parents and the well-being of children.” Jim Steyer reached a similar conclusion: “Today’s decision is a disappointing one for parents, educators, and all who care about kids,” he said. “Today, the multi-billion dollar video game industry is celebrating the fact that their profits have been protected, but we will continue to fight for the best interests of kids and families.”
Mr. Yee and Mr. Steyer seem to be under the impression that the Court and supporters of its ruling in
Brown cannot possibly care about children and that something sinister motivates our passion about the victory. Apparently we’re all just apparently in it to make video game industry fat cats and retailing giants happy! That’s a truly insulting position for Mr. Yee and Mr. Steyer to adopt. Perhaps it is just because they are sore about the outcome in the case that are adopting such rhetorical tactics. Regardless, I think they do themselves, their constituencies, and the public a great injustice by suggesting that only greed could possibly be motivating the outcome in this case. Continue reading →
Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) have released a discussion draft of their forthcoming “Do Not Track Kids Act of 2011.” I’ve only had a chance to give it a quick read, but the bill, which is intended to help safeguard kids’ privacy online, has two major regulatory provisions of interest:
(1) New regulations aimed at limiting data collection about children and teens, including (a)
expansion of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998, which would build upon COPPA’s “verifiable parental consent” model; and (b) a new “Digital Marketing Bill of Rights for Teens;” and (c) limits on collection of geolocation information about both children and teens.
(2)
An Internet “Eraser Button” for Kids to help kids wipe out embarrassing facts they have place online but later come to regret. Specifically, the bill would require online operators “to the extent technologically feasible, to implement mechanisms that permit users of the website, service, or application of the operator to erase or otherwise eliminate content that is publicly available through the website, service, or application and contains or displays personal information of children or minors.” This is loosely modeled on a similar idea currently being considered in the European Union, a so-called “right to be forgotten” online.
Both of these proposals were originally floated by the child safety group Common Sense Media (CSM) in a report released last December. It’s understandable why some policymakers and child safety advocates like CSM would favor such steps. They fear that there is simply too much information about kids online today or that kids are voluntarily placing far too much personal information online that could come back to haunt them in the future. These are valid concerns, but there are both practical and principled reasons to be worried about the regulatory approach embodied in the Markey-Barton “Do Not Track Kids Act”: Continue reading →
As part of what Politico’s
Tony Romm calls this week’s “all-out online privacy blitzkrieg,” Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass) announced he would be proposing legislation aimed at better protecting kids from the supposed evils of online “tracking” and marketing. Apparently, Rep. Markey’s effort will build on the “Do Not Track” proposal that is garnering so much attention this week.
Lost in the smoke surrounding that privacy blitzkrieg is an important distinction between these two proposals: There is a very big difference between re-engineering browsers and websites to comply with a “Do Not Track” mandate and a new regulatory scheme aimed at identifying the ages or identities of individuals using certain online sites or services. Namely, the latter likely necessitates some sort of mandatory age verification or online authentication regime for the Internet.
Let’s take a step back for some context. Markey helped author the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998, which dealt with the collection of information for kids under 13 online. But COPPA wasn’t a strict age verification or online authentication regime for the Internet. Instead, COPPA mandated a “verifiable parental consent” regime which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) later enforced using a so-called “sliding scale” approach. Essentially, sites that are “directed at” kids under 13 are supposed to get parental consent using a variety of mechanisms (credit cards, sign and fax forms, phone calls, etc) before any collection of information takes place. Of course, there are some devilish details here regarding what counts as “directed at” or “collection,” but the crucial point here is that COPPA does
not require the formal authentication of web surfer identities or ages — whether they kids or parents.
So, the really tricky question here is how one goes about expanding the COPPA regulatory regime without stumbling into the legal thicket that tied up the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) of 1998, a law which did mandate such an authentication regime and, as a result, witnessed a grueling decade-long legal battle over its constitutionality. Ultimately, the courts rejected COPA as inconsistent with America’s tradition of anonymous speech, something central to our evolution as a democracy, pre-dating even the First Amendment that protects it from government interference. Thus, we have, at least for now, closed the book on COPA. But are we about to re-open it with COPPA expansion a la the forthcoming Markey bill? Continue reading →
By Adam Thierer & Berin Szoka
Last Friday, Common Sense Media (CSM) held an event (video) at the National Press Club featuring the chairmen of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The regulatory activist group released a new poll on children and privacy (Exec Summary & Full Survey). Unfortunately, like almost every other privacy-related poll, theirs is more geared towards fueling a privacy panic than on exploring the real-world trade-offs between legislating “greater privacy” (a hopelessly abstract concept in most conversations) and losing the consumer benefits of data sharing: innovation in online services and the quality and quantity of services and content supported by data-driven advertising.
What better way to drum up Congressional support for paternalistic privacy legislation (restrictions on online data use) than by asserting that this is what the electorate already wants? The poll asks whether “Congress should update laws that relate to online privacy and security for children and teens.” Three-fifths (61% of parents, 62% of adults) said yes. But earlier in the survey, only 16% knew that the Children Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998
already prohibits “online companies… from collecting or using personal information from children under the age of thirteen without a parent’s permission.” (53% weren’t sure.) If parents don’t know what Congress has already done, how meaningful is it for them to say they think Congress needs to do more? (There’s a reason we don’t have direct democracy.)
Indeed, how useful are such polls, anyway? Ultimately, what such polls really tell us is that, if you ask parents—or adults in general—whether they’re concerned about protecting kids,
of course most will say yes, because nobody wants to think of themselves as the kind of person who doesn’t care about kids.
This bias becomes even more problematic when the choice at issue involves such stark trade-offs—especially when we’re talking about throwing a wrench (restrictions on data use and collection) in the economic engine that has again and again provided funding for media and services that users just won’t pay for. As we’ve noted here before, privacy polls and surveys reveal only what the public will tell pollsters in response to the particular questions asked. On privacy, those questions are almost invariably designed to solicit responses suggesting an urgent need for more laws and government action. Even the fairest of these surveys is no substitute for real-world experiments in which people make real choices, in real time, often with real money, and face many real trade-offs. Continue reading →
As part of its excellent “Room for Debate” series, the New York Times has an interesting new online symposium up now asking, “Will Networks Go Wild, With No Decency Rules?” It was in response to last week’s Second Circuit decision, which again slapped down an effort by the Federal Communications Commission to defend the agency’s indecency enforcement regime. I was honored to be asked to contribute a short essay on the subject. Here are the other contributors and their essays. Take the time to check them out:
I was particularly interested in former FCC’s Chairman Michael Powell’s admission that “The [FCC’s] fleeting expletive policy was a mistake,” and that “the real problem is the now-flawed constitutional foundation on which the law is built.” Powell goes on to argue that, “We cannot have one First Amendment for broadcasting and another one for every other medium. This vestige of a bygone era provides fertile ground for mischief — culture wars, political agenda and moral mandates. It’s high time for the high court to bring our laws into the 21st century.”
I wholeheartedly agree, and I wrote a lengthy law review article on just that topic back in 2007 entitled,“
Why Regulate Broadcasting: Toward a Consistent First Amendment Standard for the Information Age.” If you find it too boring, just watch this video I made summarizing the key points, which I called “America’s First Amendment Twilight Zone.”
Common Sense Media (CSM) is a media “watchdog” group that provides a terrifically useful service to the public through independent reviews of popular media content (movies, music, TV, games, and more). As a parent, I find their service indispensable and, as a policy analyst, I have praised their rating system and their media literacy / digital citizenship programs again and again, including numerous endorsements in my special report on Parental Controls & Online Child Protection and other testimony and filings before Congress and federal regulatory agencies.
Thus, being such a big fan of CSM, I was quite dismayed to see the comments they just submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as part of the agency’s review of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). They advocate not just expanded educational efforts, which are great, but also expanding COPPA’s age scope to cover all kids under 18 as well as opt-in mandates for the collection and use of any “personal information” or “behavioral marketing.” For all the background on the law and the FTC’s resulting COPPA rule, see this beefy paper Berin Szoka and I authored last year and this testimony and follow-up submission Berin did for the Senate Commerce Committee. And then read the joint submission made by PFF, CDT, and EFF in the same FTC proceeding that CSM just filed in.
Sadly, it’s clear to me that Common Sense Media didn’t take anything we warned about in those papers or filings seriously—or perhaps that they just didn’t bother to read them very carefully, if at all. Their filing is a classic example of good intentions gone wrong. I understand that they want to take additional steps to protect children online, but they completely ignore the practical realities of COPPA expansion and its associated trade-offs:
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In all my work on online child safety issues, I always try to stress how important education and media literacy efforts are. Indeed, technical parental control tools and methods, while important, should be viewed as just one part of a more holistic approach to encouraging digital literacy and digital citizenship. In recent years, many scholars and child development experts such as Nancy Willard of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, Anne Collier
and Larry Magid of ConnectSafely.org,
Marsali Hancock of iKeepSafe,
Common Sense Media, the Family Online Safety Institute, and many others have worked to expand traditional education and media literacy strategies to place the notion of digital citizenship at the core of their lessons and recommendations.
What does it mean? Anne Collier defines digital citizenship as “Critical thinking and ethical choices about the content and impact on oneself, others, and one’s community of what one sees, says, and produces with media, devices, and technologies.” And Common Sense Media defines digital literacy and digital citizenship as follows:
Digital Literacy programs are an essential element of media education and involve basic learning tools and a curriculum in critical thinking and creativity.
Digital Citizenship means that kids appreciate their responsibility for their content as well as their actions when using the Internet, cell phones, and other digital media. All of us need to develop and practice safe, legal, and ethical behaviors in the digital media age. Digital Citizenship programs involve educational tools and a basic curriculum for kids, parents, and teachers.
Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute, had an excellent essay in
The Huffington Post yesterday on “21st Century Citizenship,” that did a fine job of explaining these concepts in practical terms:
Continue reading →
Interesting lunchtime forum taking place this coming Monday, Nov. 2nd about “Media, Kids, and The First Amendment.” It’s being co-hosted by Georgetown Law Center and Common Sense Media. Here’s the event description:
The rapidly changing world of digital media – including TV, videogames, the Internet and mobile devices – creates many opportunities for children, but also presents potential dangers, from cyber-bullying to exposure to inappropriate content. The Supreme Court has remanded FCC v. Fox Television back to the Third Circuit for further consideration. The Senate recently held a hearing on the Children’s Television Act in the digital age. Is new legislation or regulation imminent?
Panelists include:
- Daniel Brenner, Partner, Hogan and Hartson
- Angela Campbell, Professor, Georgetown Law Center
- Kim Matthews, Attorney Advisor, Media Bureau, Policy Division, Federal Communications Commission
- Douglas Gansler, Attorney General of Maryland
- Jim Steyer, CEO & Founder, Common Sense Media [moderator]
Location is the Gewirz Student Center, 120 F Street, NW, 12th Floor. Start time = 12:00 Noon.
It’s an open event but those interested should RSVP via email to:
rsvp2@law.georgetown.edustrong>rsvp2@law.georgetown.edu</strong and indicate that they are replying for the Nov 2nd event. I have already told my friends at Common Sense Media I will be there to cause some trouble! (and get a free lunch, of course).
The latest edition (Version 4.0) of my PFF special report on “Parental Controls and Online Child Protection: A Survey of Tools & Methods” is now up. For those not familiar with the report, it explores the market for parental control tools, rating schemes, education and media literacy efforts, and various other tools, methods, and initiatives aimed at promoting online child safety. After evaluating that state of this market, I conclude: “There has never been a time in our nation’s history when parents have had more tools and methods at their disposal to help them decide what constitutes acceptable media content in their homes and in the lives of their children.” Moreover, I believe that the parental controls and content management tools cataloged in the report represent a better, less restrictive alternative to government regulation.
Version 4.0 of the report is now over 250 pages long (up from 200 pages in Version 3.0) and it contains almost 70 exhibits (up from 50), 725 references (up from roughly 500), and numerous updates in all five sections of the book. Major updates have been made to the Internet, social networking, and mobile media sections, reflecting the growing importance of those sectors and issues. Other new sections or appendices have also been added to the report, including:
- a new section examining how many households really need parental control tools;
- a new appendix on the downsides of mandatory parental controls and restrictive default settings;
- a new section on the dangers of “deputizing the online middleman” solution as an approach to solving child safety concerns;
- a new appendix reviewing the findings of 5 past online safety task forces;
- … and much more.
I issue major updates once a year and 1 or 2 minor tweaks during the course of the year to reflect the evolution of the parental control and online child safety marketplace and debate. The report is available free-of-charge on the PFF website, and the previous editions of the report are housed there too in case you want to see how it has evolved over the past couple of years. For those interested in taking a quick look at the report, I have embedded it down below the fold as a Scribd file. Finally, as is always the case, I encourage readers to send me updates and suggestions for how to improve the report and I will incorporate them into future versions.
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The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.