The presence of children in the online world is increasing at a rapid pace. As children interact with services such as video sharing, live streaming, and gaming, a number of concerns arise regarding their security and privacy as well as their safety. To address such concerns, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) sets out 15 criteria alongside a risk management process for developers of online services for children. We present an analysis of 15 ICO criteria for age appropriate design. More precisely, we investigate whether those criteria provide actionable requirements for developers and whether video sharing and live streaming platforms that are used by children of different age ranges (i.e., TikTok, Twitch and YouTube Kids) comply with them. Our findings regarding the ICO criteria suggest that some criteria such as age verification and transparency provide adequate guidance for assessment whereas other criteria such as parental controls, reporting of inappropriate content, and handling of sensitive data need further clarification. Our findings regarding the platforms themselves suggest that they choose to implement the simplest form of self-declared age verification with limited parental controls and plenty of opportunities.
翻译:儿童在网上世界的存在正在迅速增加,随着儿童与视频共享、现场直播和游戏等服务互动,人们对儿童的安全和隐私及其安全产生了一些关切。为解决这些关切,联合王国信息专员办公室(ICO)制定了15项标准,同时规定了儿童在线服务开发者的风险管理程序。我们分析了15项ICO标准适合年龄设计。更准确地说,我们调查这些标准是否为开发者提供了可操作的要求,以及不同年龄的儿童(即TikTok、Twitch和YouTube儿童)使用的视频共享和直播平台是否符合这些标准。我们对ICO标准的调查结果表明,一些标准,如年龄核查和透明度为评估提供了适当的指导,而诸如父母控制、报告不当内容和处理敏感数据等其他标准则需要进一步澄清。我们关于平台本身的调查结果表明,他们选择采用最简单的自我申报的年龄核查形式,而父母控制和机会有限。