Online child sexual abuse:Industry players ignore govt fiat on partnering IWF
January 03, 2021
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Of over 150 ISPs asked to ally with the Internet Watch Foundation, only Tata Communications has signed up Three years after the government asked internet players to partner with Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to help prevent access to Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) online, only one out of over 150 operational Internet Service Providers have signed up.
IWF had approached large service providers like Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone and Tata Telecommunications back in 2017 to try and get them to sign up. “This is something they all, with the exception of Tata Communications, ignored, and the government failed to enforce,” Susie Hargreaves, Chief Executive, IWF, told
December 18, 2020
More than 50% of children used shared devices, and there isn’t a level playing field to access to the internet, said Siddharth Pillai of Aarambh India. This is the imperfect world that guardian data fiduciaries in the country will have to navigate, according to the provisions of the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, 2019. These fiduciaries are supposed to verify the age of their users, and obtain consent from their guardian or parents if the user is a “child” anyone under 18.
How will these fiduciaries do what they do, considering this complicated and confusing mandate? Held on December 9 with the support of Facebook and Google, our discussion explored how companies, NGOs and child welfare bodies will be affected by the PDP Bill. Watch full video of the discussion:
December 18, 2020
Indian laws such as the Juvenile Justice Act, the Evidence Act, and child labour laws, recognise that children are at different levels of maturity in the 13-18 age group, so to have a blanket age of 18 is not something that is very good for Indian children, Aparajita Bharti, co-founder of Young Leaders for Active Citizenship, an organisation that works with young people across 10 Indian cities, said.
This came as a part of MediaNama’s discussion, hosted with the support of Facebook and Google, on how the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 deals with children’s privacy and data rights. The Bill proposes that any entity that collects or processes children’s data take consent from their parent or guardian before doing so.
December 8, 2020
We are happy to announce speakers for our online discussion on children and internet, being held tomorrow (Wed, Dec 9), with a focus on how the Personal Data Protection Bill deals with children’s data privacy. We have 150+ attendees confirmed, and registrations will close today.
We will be discussing issues around children’s use of online services (educational apps, games, or streaming video), including the role of guardian data fiduciaries, implications of restriction on profiling of children’s data, implications of restrictions on age of consent, etc.
Session Plan
02:15 PM – 03:30 PM: Session 1: Discussion on Children and Consent
Aparajita Bharti, Young Leaders for Active Citizenship