"Silver Bullet..."
- Aaron X.
- May 2, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 14, 2024
In antiquity there is a tale of a king transformed into a beast, the first lycan, due to his perversion of innocence and defilement of mankind in child sacrifice. The sacrifice of children's information no matter how lucrative or edifying, to me, echos similarity; but as usual, no standard has been set or punishment given through directive on high due to no apparent harm nor apparent foul.
The current regulations and guidelines that encompass children's privacy in the digital commons are the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA, 2021), Children's Internet Protection Act (FCC, 2019), and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (FTC, 2023). These to me seem to be out of touch of protective methodologies and even contradictory in consideration of physical laws in comparison to digital laws. It is my opinion that:
The collection, selling, distribution, or analysis of Minor's information by academic products from virtual learning environments or information collected in the virtual environment should be deemed a matter of national security, as the biggest factor in national security is the future minds that will one day encompass the body republic.
Third-party sharing of, collection of, and analysis of data of an academic nature by institutions should be audited no matter the data's nature. i.e. dis-identified, anonymized, pseudo-anonymized, or sanitized data...
Streamlined verbiage concerning dis-identification, de-identification, and sanitization of data to ensure that technological advancements cannot cause a variance between established regulation and subsequent litigation.
What concerns me is the interpretations of regulations that explicitly outline or use verbiage that contradict or seem counter-intuitive to their intention of protection of the American youth in the digital age. One of the largest, from my perspective, being the glaring flaw in interpretation of American youth across the regulatory and enforcement agencies set forth to protect them which could cause confusion preventing litigation while increasing exploitation. The interpretations in my highest concern being:
FERPA (2021) and academic disclosure guidelines surrounding the transfer of rights from parents to children at the age of 18. Also, the "without consent" caveat bullet of "Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school".
COPPA (FTC, 2023) and requirements for websites and online services directed to children only under the age of 13.
COPPA (FTC, 2023) and the definition of "verifiable parental consent", "operators", and the phrase "reasonable effort".
COPPA (FTC, 2023) and the current definition of "personal information" collection specifically but not limited to children's images, voices, and geolocation.
CFR (CFR, 2024) Part 416.1856 -- The consideration of a child as anyone under the age of 18 years old; or under the age of 22 and a student regularly attending school or college or training.
CFR (CFR, 2024) Part 312.2 -- Child means an individual under the age of 13.
Per the usual, these words being merely my opinion and not stated to be taken heavy-handedly, causing gallows to sway at witch's neck or more aptly silver-bullets to fly...
Slay the werewolf.
~Aaron X.
References
CFR (2024). Code of Federal Regulations ("CFR"). Retrieved May 2, 2024 from https://www.ecfr.gov
FCC (2019). Children's Internet Protection Act ("CIPA"). Retrieved May 2, 2024 from
FTC (2023). Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule ("COPPA"). Retrieved May 2, 2024 from https://www.ftc.gov/legallibrary/browse/rules/childrens/ online-privacy protection- rule-coppa
FERPA (2021). Family educational rights and privacy act ("FERPA"). Retrieved May, 2 2024 from https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html