Kidron also suggests that the "systemic" nature of the problems the 5Rights Foundation's research unearthed suggests that while the issues were identified ahead of the Code coming into force this fall, "many" will likely persist - hence it's urging the ICO to investigate "apparent breaches" and publish guidance. "If the Code is to have real value in protecting children’s safety and rights in the digital environment, the ICO must make sure that it is respected in practice." "There is a danger that the Code is being interpreted as introducing a handful of safety measures, rather than requiring a holistic re-design of the systems and processes of services to ensure their data collection practices are in the best interests of children," the 5Rights Foundation warns in its letter. Moreover, while the ICO doesn't exactly have a reputation as a pro-active enforcer of digital rights, child safety groups like the 5Rights Foundation don't look like they'll be content to let enforcement sit still for long. So, in one sense, it'll be difficult for established businesses to argue that they haven't had enough time to make the necessary changes. The charity's chair, Baroness Kidron, was instrumental in pushing for the Code's set of headline standards to be established by the ICO in the first place, as part of the U.K.'s existing data protection legislation.Īlthough the Code only came into force at the start of September the standards were published at the start of last year - with the ICO opting to give business a long grace period to come into compliance. Its correspondence the ICO also refers directly to Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen's recent testimony to lawmakers, which includes warnings over the toxicity of platforms like Instagram for teens' developing brains - suggesting the social media giant ( now known as Meta) is likely on its list. Nor does the 5Rights Foundation appear to have published the list of companies it's raising concerns about (but it has passed their names to the regulator). The ICO has not published the full list of tech companies it has targeted for Code compliance questions. It adds that it will write to a further nine companies following the charity highlighting a raft of concerns - bringing the total number of digital services under regulatory review to almost 50. The ICO is not singling out Apple and Google, however - saying today that it's written to a total of 40 organizations across the three tech sectors it considers highest risk for kids - namely social media/messaging gaming and video/music streaming - "to determine their standards of conformance individually". The tech giants have been contacted for comment on the development.īoth operate app stores which apply age ratings to apps that are made available for download - potentially by children - meaning their platforms come under the scope of the Code. "In this process, the ICO is taking a systemic approach we are focusing our interventions on operators of online services where there is information which indicates potential poor compliance with privacy requirements, and where there is a high risk of potential harm to children," Denham also wrote in reply to the 5Rights Foundation, adding that as part of this work the ICO has contacted Apple and Google - "to enquire about the extent to which the risks associated with the processing of personal data are a factor when determining the age rating for an app". The information commissioner was responding to a letter from the 5Rights Foundation - a digital child safety charity which conducted research over the summer to investigate compliance with the Code and says it found 12 "systemic" breaches, including insufficient age assurance mis-advertisment of minimum ages for games on app stores the use of dark patterns and nudges data-driven recommendations that create risks for children a routine failure to enforce community standards low default privacy settings and plenty more besides. In a statement today the information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, said her office is currently conducting an "evidence gathering process to identify conformance with the code, and thus compliance with the underlying data protection law". The move follows the coming into force of the U.K.'s Age Appropriate Design Code this September - which puts requirements on digital services that are likely to be accessed by children to prioritize protecting their privacy and safety. The U.K.'s data protection watchdog has written to Apple and Google seeking details of how they assess apps to determine the age ratings they apply following concerns raised by an online child safety charity.
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