Last month Professor Valerie Steeves, Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, spoke at the 29th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners about children’s online privacy.  It’s an interesting (if not social-media paranoid) speech about blurring the line between content and marketing.  She focuses on Neopets, Barbie.com and Webkinz and their EULAs.

Here’s the video. Here are the notes.

I’m not sure what the panel had to say – but I hope someone touched on the fact that companies need to monetize traffic in order to create compelling content and that the creation of content by a community is not a bad thing. When I think of the latter in terms of real world, my local city would be a frustrating and boring place if I couldn’t: vote for change and actively participate in it, volunteer or communicate with my peers etc.

The issue of receiving virtual rewards for participation in a sponsored survey is indeed a little on the grey side…but my question is - why is everyone so scared of online?  You can bet that companies like McDonald’s have perfected the Happy Meal by looking at their real-world data. Not only that but they can watch your kids as they react at their favourite toys and watch you react with them.

In addition to abiding by PIPEDA and COPPA and self-regulating through CARU or ASC, companies can start writing their EULAs in kids speak and create clear community guidelines based on business rules so that there is some transparancy in the way that online companies operate (I like my local government this way too- I know they’re elected so it might not be a perfect example but still…).

I think speeches like this do nothing but encourage kids to be fearful of social media- when in fact everyone should educate kids on what personal info is and how to protect it so that they can have confidence and security online.