More than a dozen advocacy groups for privacy and child protection have requested that the Obama administration include adolescents into the recommendations it makes for privacy protection within this year’s white paper.
This was only one of the two primary requests made by the groups in a letter that was issued to the Commerce Department, Justice Department, the White House, and the Interagency Subcommittee on Privacy and Internet Policy co-chairs for the National Science and Technology Council at the White House.
These groups include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Consumer Federation of America, the Benton Foundation, the Center for Digital Democracy, and Children Now, among others. The letter asked the Obama administration to make a recommendation for the passing of new legislation that “protects adolescent privacy”. This effort follows a meeting that was held with the subcommittee in June.
In it, they explained that adolescents are primary targets within the swiftly increasing mobile and online marketplace, which exposes them to a growing risk of behavioral profiling, data collection, as well as highly manipulative and scheming efforts that would place their privacy at risk.
They added that as a result of the fact that children and teens have different needs and capacities than adults, the white paper should include a policy framework which would speak to the privacy concerns faced by the country’s youth.
Though there is already a law in place which works to protect children aged 13 and under from the violation of their privacy – the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act – the advocacy groups are hoping that additional legislation should be created in order to address the privacy concerns of teens, and not just young children.
