research-article

Children Seen But Not Heard: When Parents Compromise Children's Online Privacy

Authors:

Keith W. RossAuthors Info & Claims

WWW '15: Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on World Wide Web

Pages 776 - 786

https://doi.org/10.1145/2736277.2741124

Published: 18 May 2015 Publication History

Abstract

Children's online privacy has garnered much attention in media, legislation, and industry. Adults are concerned that children may not adequately protect themselves online. However, relatively little discussion has focused on the privacy breaches that may occur to children at the hands of others, namely, their parents and relatives. When adults post information online, they may reveal personal information about their children to other people, online services, data brokers, or surveillant authorities. This information can be gathered in an automated fashion and then linked with other online and offline sources, creating detailed profiles which can be continually enhanced throughout the children's lives.

In this paper, we conduct a study to see how widespread these behaviors are among adults on Facebook and Instagram. We use a number of methods. Firstly, we automate a process to examine 2,383 adult users on Facebook for evidence of children in their public photo albums. Using the associated comments in combination with publicly available voter registration records, we are able to infer children's names, faces, birth dates, and addresses. Secondly, in order to understand what additional information is available to Facebook and the users' friends, we survey 357 adult Facebook users about their behaviors and attitudes with regard to posting their children's information online. Thirdly, we analyze 1,089 users on Instagram to infer facts about their children.

Finally, we make recommendations for privacy-conscious parents and suggest an interface change through which Facebook can nudge parents towards better stewardship of their children's privacy.

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Cited By

Quayyum FJaccheri L(2025)CyberFamily: A collaborative family game to increase children’s cybersecurity awarenessEntertainment Computing10.1016/j.entcom.2024.10082652(100826)Online publication date: Jan-2025
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Index Terms

Children Seen But Not Heard: When Parents Compromise Children's Online Privacy

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Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences

WWW '15: Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on World Wide Web

May 2015

1460 pages

ISBN:9781450334693

General Chairs:
Aldo Gangemi
National Research Council, Italy & Paris 13 University-CNRS, France
,
Stefano Leonardi
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
,
Alessandro Panconesi
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Copyright © 2015 Copyright is held by the International World Wide Web Conference Committee (IW3C2).

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IW3C2: International World Wide Web Conference Committee

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SIGWEB: ACM Special Interest Group on Hypertext, Hypermedia, and Web

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International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee

Republic and Canton of Geneva, Switzerland

Publication History

Published: 18 May 2015

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WWW '15

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IW3C2

WWW '15: 24th International World Wide Web Conference

May 18 - 22, 2015

Florence, Italy

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WWW '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 131 of 929 submissions, 14%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 1,899 of 8,196 submissions, 23%

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Cited By

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Tofil GJagielska D(2024)Children of Polish Parents Online - Dimensions and Sharenting RisksStudia z Teorii Wychowania10.5604/01.3001.0054.4424XV:1(46)(85-99)Online publication date: 20-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0054.4424
Lieberknecht A(2024)Exploring Determinants of Parental Engagement in Online Privacy Protection: A Qualitative ApproachProceedings of the 2024 European Symposium on Usable Security10.1145/3688459.3688476(94-111)Online publication date: 30-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3688459.3688476
Jin QKawas SArora SYuan YYarosh S(2024)Is Your Family Ready for VR? Ethical Concerns and Considerations in Children's VR UsageProceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3628516.3655804(436-454)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3628516.3655804
Stephenson SPage CWei MKapadia ARoesner F(2024)Sharenting on TikTok: Exploring Parental Sharing Behaviors and the Discourse Around Children’s Online PrivacyProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642447(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642447
Lieberknecht AOchs A(2024)Safeguarding Children’s Digital Privacy: Exploring Design Requirements for Effective Literacy Training for ParentsInformation Security Education - Challenges in the Digital Age10.1007/978-3-031-62918-1_8(111-126)Online publication date: 11-Jun-2024
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Lieberknecht A(2024)Educating Parents in Managing Online Privacy Risks: Media Educators’ PerspectivesPrivacy and Identity Management. Sharing in a Digital World10.1007/978-3-031-57978-3_8(114-126)Online publication date: 23-Apr-2024
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Williams OChoong YBuchanan KKelley PKapadia A(2023)Youth understandings of online privacy and securityProceedings of the Nineteenth USENIX Conference on Usable Privacy and Security10.5555/3632186.3632208(399-416)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2023
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BALOĞLU E(2023)Instagram Çağının Dijital Ebeveynleri: Sharenting Bağlamında Bir İncelemeDigital Parents of the Instagram Age: A Review in the Context of SharentingTRT Akademi10.37679/trta.132835408:19(766-785)Online publication date: 30-Sep-2023
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Lavorgna AUgwudike PTartari M(2023)Online sharenting: Identifying existing vulnerabilities and demystifying media reported crime risksCrime, Media, Culture: An International Journal10.1177/1741659022114844819:4(472-490)Online publication date: 11-Jan-2023
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