Open Access Research Article
LACK OF PARENTAL CONTROL IN CYBER SPACE
Published Paper
Article Details
LACK OF PARENTAL CONTROL IN CYBER
SPACE
AUTHORED BY
- N. ARUN VAIDYANATH
ABSTRACT
Parenting is
always considered as a difficult process and today parenting today’s generation
is much more unenviable thing to do. Current Generation also known as
Generation Z (are part of highly digitalized and connected world) is considered
as internet born children and they all are standing on the banks of a sea where
a mere carelessness is enough to fall into the sea known as cyberspace. An
entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship.
Likewise, a small error is enough to make a person falling into the cyber trap.
Post the COVID Pandemic the increase in the usage of digital technologies by
the children has increased and because of that there is an increase in the rate
of cyber-attack. To tackle this, there is a need of effective parental control
mechanism which is now available on some OTT platforms but the same is not
followed by the other service providers. The paper attempts to answer if
parental control option provided in the OTT platforms are effective.
The central
board of film certification also known as censor board is a body which gives
censor certificate for films releasing in theatres but the same is not
effective when it comes to OTT platform and hence the parental control has been
kept in place but children are finding solution to breach the parental control
and misusing the platforms. There is also a claim over privacy concerns in
parental controlling. The gadgets used by the children are same which a
grown-up adult is using and there is no control over it because all the
features are available to them and are often being misused. The paper outlines
the implementation of an effective parental control mechanism and if it
violates the right to privacy of children.
KEYWORDS: Parental
control, Child, Parent, OTT platforms, Cyberspace
INTRODUCTION
Children vary in their ability to
navigate the digital environment safely, leveraging opportunities while
addressing privacy risks. The evidence mapping reveals that factors such as
developmental stage, socio-economic status, skills, gender, or vulnerabilities
can shape how children interact with online privacy. However, more research is
required to fully understand the consequences of these variations among
children. This underscores the need for further exploration in media literacy
research and educational initiatives. Additionally, there is a call for
increased focus on amplifying children's voices and recognizing their diverse
experiences, competencies, and capacities in the digital realm. With the advent
of digital technologies and the internet, privacy concerns have escalated as
these platforms can amass extensive datasets containing detailed personal
information about online users. Children are often considered more susceptible
to online privacy threats compared to adults, given their limited digital
skills and awareness of privacy risks. While topics like online sexual
exploitation and interactions with strangers are widely discussed, there is a
need for further investigation to uncover potential connections between privacy
risks and adverse outcomes for children, especially concerning long-term
effects.[1]
BACKGROUND
India
has the surpassed China to become the country with highest population in 2023
and millions of people adding to it. As per the report of International Labour
Organization, India has the highest number of youth population. 66% of the
total population is below the age of 35 which shows the significant amount of
youth population in the country. Over the years India has transformed in
various aspects like population, economy, education, infrastructure and one of
the main one being is internet. India has one of the largest and fastest
growing internet user bases in the world. According to the report published by
the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) there is an increase in the
users of internet from 718.74 million 743 million in the period December 2019-
March 2020 and is now the 2nd largest online market in the market in the world[2].
Prior to increase in the usage of internet and the rapid change in the
technology, the connectivity was lesser and the users were also categorized
because internet was considered as luxury in those days.
Post
the technological advancement that happened in the internet, there was a huge
increase in the usage of internet and digital devices and thus increased the
risk like cyber bullying, Online predators etc. The internet was growing and
the parents were also learning about the need, usage, pros, and cons of the
internet and many were unaware of the usage and the dangers that will occur in
the cyber world and thus left the kids unsupervised. The internet revolution
started when the Indian business magnet Mukesh Ambani decided to launch his
telecom network know as Reliance Jio. During the launch of his dream project,
he stated that India is ranked 155th in the world for the mobile broadband
internet access out of the 230 countries in the world. Within 6 months from the
launch of Jio, India became the top mobile data users in the world using 1
billion GB data compared to 200 million GB earlier. The keypad phones were
replaced by smartphones. This whole change can be coined as JIO Revolution. Now
the times have changed years passed by likewise the technologies are also
changing but one difference is that the users are much more aware of the
technological advancement. When the rate of internet users increased most of
them belong to the age of youth that is above the age of 18 and the
participation of children below the age of 18 called as minor were very less.
Post the pandemic the number of minors using internet has increased. The reason
for such a huge increase is due to the online learning and along with that they
use it for online gaming, entertainment purpose
CYBERSPACE
Cyberspace
is conceptual place created using computers, internet, and other digital
technologies. It is a non- physical place which includes interconnected
computers, websites, online platforms, digital systems etc. The main purpose of
cyberspace is to extend the reach of websites and other online activities globally
and the collective environment on the internet is known as cyberspace. The term
Cyberspace was coined by William Gibson in 1980s and since then there is a huge
revolution happening in the cyber world. It has now become a place of endless
possibilities which offers connectivity, convenience and puts up a lot of
challenges.
PARENTAL CONTROL AND RIGHT TO PRIVACY
In the era of
rapidly changing technology, children are exposed cyber space. Internet offers
a wide variety of services like tool for education, commerce, banking,
entertainment etc. but it can possess a potential risk for the younger
generation. To avoid the risks to the younger generation, there is an effective
parental control mechanism. This tool is designed to safe guard the children
from inappropriate contents, online predators, and excessive screen time and
from cyber-crimes. This mechanism is designed to help the parents to monitor,
manage and to control their children from accessing various platforms in the
digital world. Parental control mechanism is most used in technologies like
computer, smartphones, tablets, smart TV’s. Smartphones and other digital
accessories have the option to switch on the parental control mode which can
restrict the use of their children and can also monitor the usage of them.
Right to
privacy is one of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution of
India. This was firmly established in India through a landmark judgement passed
by a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India in Justice. K. S. Puttaswamy
(Retd.) and Anr. vs. Union of India and Ors.[3]
The court held that the right to Privacy is inherent in the fundamental rights
guaranteed under Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India. The
question of privacy was settled in this case but still there are question
relating to its applicability to the minor and transgenders.
Parental
control mechanism is followed in many countries and there is no uniform laws or
rules when it come to the restrictions and the age limits and one of the major questions
that arise is whether the implementation of effective Parental control
mechanism violates the right to privacy of the children. The parent control
system is nothing but a restriction that is put in place to protect the
children from potential risks that will occur in the cyber space.
The Children’s
Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was enacted in the year 1998 in the
United States of America to protect the privacy of a child below the age of 13
years.[4]
This law was mainly designed to protect the children from a third party for collecting personal
information and to collect the personal information from the children there are
certain guidelines or rules which mentions that the consent of the parent is necessary
the consent must be verifiable but the same law does not talk about the
children above the age of 13 because they are allowed to use Facebook,
WhatsApp, and other social media platforms once they attain the age of 13.
According to Indian Majority Act, 1875 a minor child is a child who has not
completed the age of 18. But in cases where minors will be treated as major
based on his conduct and in such cases, their age will be calculated based on
the maturity and understanding of the child to judge the nature and consequence
of his conduct and not only in India the age for attaining majority in most of
the countries around the world is 18 years of age.
Now a days the
age for attaining majority in the real world and the social or media world is
different because once a child attain the age of 13 years, he is allowed to
access the social media platforms and there are no restrictions over that. In
the year 2022 state of California enacted a new law called California
Age-Appropriate Design Code (CAADC) based on the Age-Appropriate Design Code in
the United Kingdom[5].
This was enacted to protect the children from the digital platforms, digital
product, and the services that they offer. The age of consent in the digital
world is increases to 18 years and it is defined in the act that Child or Children
consumer or consumers below the age of 18 years and they enacted it because
they find it that it was necessary to protect the children from the
ever-changing technologies. (Citation)
General Data
Protection Regulations (GDPR) is a data privacy regulation passed in the
European Union in 2018 to give individual more control over their personal
data. This regulation is applicable to everybody and as per this regulation, it
is mandatory to get the consent of parents to receive or access the personal
data of the children below the age of 16 years. GDPR allows children above the
age of 16 years to give consent to access their personal data by a third party.
The members of the European Union have the right to reduce the age limit from
16 years to a minimum of 13 years. Belgium, Croatia who are members to the
European Union have reduced the age limit of giving parent consent from 16
years to 13 years. Here, there is no uniformity when it comes to the laws or
the regulation relating the parental control Mechanism because, different
countries follow different laws and what we saw no is an example of it. China
practices a very different approach than that of the European Union. China
enacted Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL)[6]
which treats the personal information of children below the age of 14 as
sensitive and to process the information, consent of parents is required in a
specific or in a written manner rather than a general consent which is been
followed in other countries.
Government of
India has enacted Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 for processing the
digital personal data of its citizens to protect their privacy. This bill also
protects the privacy of the children in the country Chapter 4 of Personal Data
Protection Bill, 2019 provides for the processing of personal data and
sensitive data of the children. Section 16 of the bill states the data of the
children must be processed in such a way that it should protect the rights of
the child and should be in the best interest of the child and before processing
the data, the fiduciary must verify the age of the child and accordingly obtain
the consent of their respective parent or guardian.
The
verification of age will be done in in a manner after considering the value of
personal data processed, the proportion of the data that is likely to be that
of the child, whether there will be any possibility of harm that will arise to
the child arising out of processing the personal data and other factors
specified by the regulation. Other countries like USA, China, European Union
has specified the age group of the children in which the consent of the parent
is necessary but in India, the age in which the child can give consent is
unclear because as per the law of the country a person who attains the age of
majority can give consent and according to Indian Majority Act, 1875 a minor is
a child who has not completed the age of 18 years.
PARENTAL CONTROL AND OTT PLATFORMS
OTT platform
stands for “Over-the-Top” platforms. OTT platforms are online streaming service
which provide wide variety of contents to its users such as movies, TV shows,
original production directly to the customers for entertainment purpose.
Customers are allowed to access the content by login through the login
credentials given to them upon the payment of subscription amount. This system
bypasses the traditional broadcast or networking model like television
broadcast through cable networks. OTT platforms allow users to access contents
on the demand of the customers, at any time convenient for them in multiple
devices like smartphones, tablets and now a days also in smart TV’s. Some of
the examples of the OTT platforms are Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Hotstar.
These platforms are accessed by the customers belonging to different age groups
and many of these platforms have parental control option wherein they will be
provided with separate screen for the kids and this section exclusively
dedicated for kids provides entertainment contents like cartoons or anime for
kids up to the age of 13 years.
The contents
streamed in other screens are accessible to everybody and there is no
restriction as to the usage of it because the contents streamed in the normal
screen is categorized into different category based on the age. These contents
even though it contains the age restrictions, it can be accessed by a child
above the age of 13 years if she or he knows how to access it. OTT streaming
platforms Netflix follow the appropriate guidelines like providing screen lock
for each screen whereas the other platforms are not following the same
guidelines. Even though there are restriction to keep the children away from
vulgar and haunting contents, the restrictions kept in place is not sufficient
because the children often misuse or manipulate it and watch the contents which
otherwise should not be watched by them. In India the contents released on OTT
platforms are not censored and these contains the uncut version of the film or
TV shows or original production. Beside mentioning the age restriction in the
content, there is no other guidelines to avoid the view of the content by the
children.
CONCLUSION
It is clear
from the article that the rapid changes in technologies have brought
unprecedented risks and opportunity for children and younger people. Post the
Covid- 19 it is necessary to build digital literacy and digital resilience
because people should be aware of the digital world at the same time, they
should know how to deal with it because in the era of digital advancement
nobody can survive without the internet and it is necessary to learn it.
Children are the future of our country and it is the responsibility of the
parents and the stake holders to make them a responsible citizen of the nation
and to make them responsible, it is necessary to guide them in a right way.
Hence, there is a need of effective parental control option to monitor and to
protect the children from the potential risks that will arise from the cyber
world.
The main goal
of parental control is to strike a balance between granting children the
freedom to explore and to protect them from the cyber world. There should be
proper balance between restriction and privacy that is given to them. Parents
should communicate with their children and make them understand the reason why
there is a need of parental control in internet and why they are been
restricted to use certain contents published on the internet. The parental
control guidelines must be introduced to categorize children based on their age
and to give them guidelines as to what they can watch or access well within
their age criteria. Therefore, until the child attains majority or the child
become capable of understanding the nature and the consequence of the act or
the conduct, there should be control over the child by their parents.
OTT platforms
are providing contents which are not censored and hence they will not come
under the purview of Central Board of Film Certification also known as Censor
Board. Earlier, they Hollywood movies which was released in Indian theatres
were not censored and it now the Hollywood movies released in India are subject
to the certification by the Censor Board. There were a discussion going on to
regulate the OTT platform but the same was not implemented but instead a
grievance redressal system within the platforms and an oversight mechanism from
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. These self-regulatory platforms
should be brought under the Central Board of Film Certification and the
contents streamed in the OTT platforms must be certified and categorized into
certification Category.[7]
[1] Livingstone, S. Stoilova, M. and
Nandagiri, R. (2019) Children’s data and privacy online: Growing up in a
digital age. An evidence review. London: London School of Economics and
Political Science.
[2] Quartz, Reliance Jio’s cheap data
turned India’s internet dreams into reality, Niharika Sharma(September 7th,
2021)
[5] Security,
An overview of the California Age- Appropriate Design Code Act, security
research team (August 28, 2023)
[6]
Lu Zhang, Konrad Kollnig, Theory and practice: the protection of children’s
personal information in China, International Data Privacy Law,
2023;, ipad017, https://doi.org/10.1093/idpl/ipad017
[7] Times of
India, Content on OTT platform will be divided into five age- related
categories, Swathi Mathur (26 February, 2021
Article Information
LACK OF PARENTAL CONTROL IN CYBER SPACE
Authors: N. ARUN VAIDYANATH
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2023/12/05
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
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- License CC 4.0
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