The contribution reported below was published on 9/2/2021 by betapress.it at this page.
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| Credits - https://www.saferinternetday.org</a> |
Since 2004 on February 9 of each year, Safer Internet Day (SID) is celebrated in Europe, an event born with the Safer Internet Action Plan which was developed for the period 1999-2004. The plan aimed to encourage the creation of an environment favorable to the development of the industry connected to the Internet by promoting the safe use of the Internet and fighting against illegal and harmful content. The program (1999) was structured on three levels:
- creation of a safer environment through the establishment of a European network of hotlines, encouragement of self-regulation and the development of codes of conduct;
- development of filtering and classification systems;
- awareness-raising initiatives.
Over the years, Europe has continued to promote initiatives (Safer Internet Plus) with the aim of making the Internet a safe place for young people. This year too, therefore, on February 9, Safer Internet Day 2021 is celebrated, now in its 18th edition, and the theme is “Together for a better internet”. The initiative is managed by the Safer Internet Centres existing in each Member State. The initiative is funded by the European Union and the day is celebrated online in more than 170 countries worldwide. Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, stated: “Young people need to feel safe and empowered when navigating the online world to be able to fully enjoy the digital world. With the European Digital Education Action Plan, we put digital literacy at the heart of the European educational landscape, promoting digital literacy to combat online disinformation, supporting educators and teachers and ensuring quality e-learning”. European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton stated: “The coronavirus crisis has forced us to move most of our daily activities online and when we let our children surf the internet, we want them to be protected. We are determined to ensure that the digital transformation benefits everyone safely. What is illegal offline should be illegal online. Now we expect the tech industry to do its part in making the internet safer without delay and in line with EU rules”.
The European Commission with the press release of 8/2/2021 specifies that the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) requires online video-sharing platforms to restrict children’s access to harmful content and the rules for digital platforms. Furthermore, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, proposed in December 2020, include specific obligations for large platforms to address significant risks to the well-being of minors.
Safer Internet Day, however, is an opportunity to highlight how important personal data protection and privacy are, along with, obviously, IT security aspects. Online digital platforms, as data controllers, are obliged to comply with personal data protection regulations, specifically EU Regulation 2016/679 and the Italian privacy code (Legislative Decree 196/2003, as amended by Legislative Decree 101/2018). For the Republic of San Marino, the legislation on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data is Law 171/2018 which has been in force since 5/1/2019.
However, when talking about minors, reference cannot be made only to regulations. The family is the primary nucleus of society and remains the main context within which minors relate to their parents. Parents, for their part, exercise parental responsibility over minor children and are required to exercise control although without deep interference in their personal sphere. This control should also be extended to the activities that minors carry out online. Moreover, this is expressly indicated in the aforementioned GDPR, where reference is made to consent “given or authorized by the holder of parental responsibility” over minors under 13 years of age (this is the minimum age regarding the direct offer of information society services, but it depends on the individual country; in Italy it is set at 14 years).
The issue may appear simple, but in reality it is not at all since it is very difficult to control the actual age and, even more so, the true identity of those who request access to an online resource. Legislative intervention on digital identity would be necessary which - beyond Italian SPID - is valid at least at European level and also interoperable between Member States. Some proposals on digital identity are under study, but the problem, however, remains for minors. The discussion is broad and would deserve more space for in-depth analysis. We need to invest in information and awareness campaigns to increase awareness among minors of the value of personal data.