Have ‘Generation Tagged’ Lost Their Privacy?

The balance to be struck between Article 8 (the right to respect for a private and family life) and Article 10 (the right to freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights is a heavily debated issue when it comes to the law around children’s privacy. This workshop and the research that inspired it centred on this debate, concerning young children and the protection that should be afforded to maintaining their privacy. (By young children, we mean those who are not yet competent to make decisions for themselves).
The youngest members of our society are often very adept at using technology. They may, however, have little awareness of the long-term impact of the Internet. They can appear on social media because of the actions of others, such as parents posting photographs on a Facebook or Instagram page, opening a Twitter account for their baby, or even posting a photograph of their daughter dying of cancer (such postings may breach terms and conditions in some circumstances). Where young children feature on broadcast media, they risk becoming the target of comment on social media, outside of their immediate friends and family. This content is discoverable long after the original broadcast. They are ‘Generation Tagged’.
Many questions remain regarding young children’s privacy. How, for instance, should the 'reasonable expectation of privacy' test be applied when parental consent may diverge from the child's best interests? How should children’s privacy be treated when there is a public interest publication at hand? 5 How far should the legal, regulatory and ethical framework protect the child’s 'digital person' in light of technological developments? These were just a few of the issues we hoped to elaborate upon within the workshop.