- Part 4

Children are attracted to online pornography, online shopping and social networks

What are children doing online? Which websites do they visit regularly and what topics are they attracted to? These are questions many parents surely like to have an answer to, because they have to protect their children on the net. They have the responsibility, yet there are children and young people that don’t like to be controlled and want to keep their privacy. And the Internet is known for providing so many possibilities to escape their parents’ control.

But what exactly are children using the Internet for? The antivirus vendor Kaspersky Lab found out that they are mostly attracted to pornography, online shops, and social networks.

Continue reading Children are attracted to online pornography, online shopping and social networks

Parents have to protect their children on the Internet

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, gave an interesting interview to a German news page a few days ago. Although the interview was rather short, it contained some striking answers. In the past, the former CEO of Google was responsible for one or the other nice quote, as in late 2010, when it came to the visions of Google.

Now Eric Schmidt was asked if parents have to protect their children online. However, there is still one unanswered question as to whether parents are able to protect their children online.

Do parents have to protect their children?

“Of course! They have a great responsibility. Children are usually not aware of the fact that everything they post on the Internet will accompany them for a lifetime. What has been published cannot be deleted. And there will always be someone who has a copy. Therefore, I think parents should always know what their children do on the net. They should know their children’s passwords until they are 18.”

Of course, the parents’ duty of care for their children also applies for the Internet. The question is whether children can be controlled and give out their passwords….

There is a Right to be Remembered

It isn’t easy to keep a good reputation on the net, because there’s just no general online right to be forgotten. It is a fact that public data, links, or images are found by search engines and can be copied or stored by third parties. Therefore, it is often quite difficult to identify and contact the source of information. A deletion is then, usually, connected with some effort, be it time, nerves, or money.

On this blog we have already discussed many times before, that the demand for a right to be forgotten is quite unrealistic. Indeed, there also is a right to be remembered.

Apart from that, it is very difficult or even impossible to technically implement a right to be forgotten on the Internet. Not to mention the legal interpretation of a globally applicable “right to be forgotten”. Additionally, there is also the “right to be remembered” on the net. It would certainly be wrong, if a convicted criminal, for example, refers to his right to be forgotten and would wipe away his digital life. Here, freedom of press and public need for information are two important keywords.

What is the solution then?

We must come to the point where users consider what they post on the Internet about themselves or others.