“Is there an awareness of the right to privacy and intimacy of minors…”?

We jurists raise the debate as to where the privacy of children begins and ends for those “Parents” who expose their children on social media and others.

The right to privacy and intimacy of minors is one of the most commonly violated fundamental rights of children. Recovering the right to privacy in the use made of our data on the Internet is one of the challenges that society faces today in the face of the digital emergency.

And if we want to protect our data… we might start by protecting one of the most vulnerable groups in society: children.

Raising society’s awareness of the need to preserve children’s right to privacy and intimacy is a necessary gesture in order to grow as a society.

At present, the problem is represented in three points;

– The mass dissemination of images of the creatures.
– The feeling that protecting children’s privacy is virtually impossible.
– The message conveyed: that the activity on the networks is more important than the activity itself in various areas such as education, sports, leisure, etc.

Can we consider that those “parents or guardians” who “do not authorise” the transfer of images are at risk of practices which also involve the singling out of minors within the group, and which should generally be expressly forbidden by law?

On the basis of legality, it should be recalled that the images posted on these networks no longer belong to the person or entity, but that the rights are transferred to the network in question.

90% of companies use social networks to make themselves known and to sell their product… Have we assumed that it is normal for schools, sports organisations, leisure organisations, etc. to do the same? (in fact, the exception is that they are not).

“When an entity, school or organisation uses children to promote… So what they are doing is using our children as a product?”

Today’s digital environment has a great impact on a number of rights set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, such as education, privacy, access to information and freedom of expression.

Sometimes the children are extras, sometimes they play a more active role. In such continued overexposure, where are the rights of minors?

The first institution to move was UNICEF, in February 2004, which raised children’s e-rights:

  • Rights of access to information and technology without discrimination based on gender, age, resources, nationality, ethnicity, place of residence, etc. And especially for children with disabilities.
  • The right to free expression and association, to seek, receive and impart information and ideas on the web.
  • Rights to be consulted and to have a say on laws.
  • The right to protection against exploitation, illegal trade, abuse and violence using the internet.
  • The right to privacy of communications by electronic means.

 

In Spain in 2015 the system of protection for children and adolescents was reformed, organic law 8/2015, of 22 July and law 26/2015, of 28 July, but if you read this report you will not
you will find no reference to internet rights.

According to the Civil Code, Article 156, “parental authority shall be exercised jointly by both parents or by one parent alone with the express or tacit consent of the other. The acts performed by one of them in accordance with social usage, circumstances or in situations of urgent need shall be valid”. So both parents are responsible for what they do with their child and their public exposure.

But what happens in the case of separated parents if one does it and the other does not want to? Until the age of fourteen, the limit set by the data protection law, the consent of both parents is required to publish photographs of a child under fourteen on social networks and, in the event of disagreement, it will be the judge who will apply the civil code: “After hearing both parents and the child if he or she has sufficient judgement and, in any case, if the child is over the age of twelve, he or she will, without further appeal, give the power to decide to the parent.

The simple act of posting a photograph or video by parents or teenagers will be important to make young people and future generations aware of the impact or offence of their image being used for illicit, commercial, sexual and other purposes.