Priority: Protecting children
Priority: Protecting children
In general, minors are considered to be all those who have not reached the legal age of majority (18 years of age), so that minors are subjects of rights, but not of obligations, since they are considered to be in a period of formation or development, so that it is not possible to qualify them as an enforceable subject with respect to the responsibilities contained in the rules.
However, does that mean that minors cannot commit crimes, carry out actions that contravene the law? Of course they can, and in fact, they do. That is what the Law 5/2000of January 12, 2000, regulating the criminal responsibility of minors.
Minors and Internet
The Internet is a tool that has already proven its worth and the enormous influence it already has in our lives, whether we are adults or minors; nowadays, neither an adult nor a minor can carry out many of their daily tasks without turning to this powerful source of knowledge.
But not all that glitters is gold; the Internet is also a danger, and it is even more so if we talk about the information that minors can access through it if there is no supervision by their parents and/or guardians.
Some may think that today, there are filters and controls so that minors cannot access information that is harmful to them, and perhaps they are not wrong; however, it has also been demonstrated that no filter or control imposed by web pages for access to their contents is infallible.
Cases of violence (sexual and non-sexual) among the younger population are on the rise, and specialists point to access to inappropriate content as one of the causes behind this increase in the use of violence.
The AEPD takes action on the matter
The competent authorities, within the framework of their own competencies, have designed public policies and taken actions for protection in at least a multitude of areas due to the seriousness involved and the damage caused as a result of lack of protection.
Specifically, the AEPD made public three important documents related to the protection of minors when accessing adult content, establishing an age verification system.
Documents related to the protection of minors in accessing adult content
Decalogue of principles that an age verification system must comply with
Technical note
Three practical videos
The novelty proposed by the Agency is to implement an age verification system to prevent uncontrolled access by minors to inappropriate content.
What will the age verification system look like?
The age verification system proposed by the AEPD will follow the following principles:
May not be used to identify and/or track or trace minors on the Internet.
The person must prove that he/she is an “authorized person to access” the content of the website, and it is not the objective of the system that people identify themselves with their age.
The “person authorized to access” identification will only be used for content unsuitable for minors.
The accreditation for access to the contents will be anonymous for the Internet providers.
The age verification must be done in a certain way, not consisting in revealing the specific age of the person or providing the date of birth.
People will not be profiled through their browsing history
The system must ensure that a person’s activity is not linked between different services, to avoid being identified and profiled.
Exercise of parental authority by parents and/or guardians as part of the education provided to minors.
Guarantee of the fundamental right of minors to access the Internet, except for inappropriate content that may affect their development.
Definition of a governance framework: to ensure the protection of the fundamental rights of minors, the performance of parental authority, the protection of privacy and intimacy, as well as the educational environment.
These principles can already be seen in practice in the Technical Note on the Description of the proof of concept on age verification systems and protection of minors from inappropriate content, as well as in the videos, where it is explained how to implement the age verification system in compliance with the above principles.
Priority Channel
We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the Priority Channel
ritario of the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), can be used to report issues related to digital violence, which will be given priority attention, in order to act immediately in the removal of such content and minimize damage to those affected.
The AEPD, as an autonomous and competent authority for the prevention and control of digital violence, has the following procedure for action:
- Analysis of the complaint
- Adoption of precautionary measures, if necessary, in order to prevent the continuation of the most serious harmful acts.
- Sanctioning procedure on those responsible, once the scope and consequences of the facts on the victim of digital violence have been evaluated.
The complaint may be filed by the victim or by a third party with knowledge of the facts.