Research to examine if 'the right to privacy trumps the right to protection' of children online

At a recent conference in Cork on the use of technology in human trafficking, chief executive of the Irish Internet Hotline, Mick Moran, said that giving young children smartphones is 'an abdication of responsibility by parents' that sees youngsters 'being sacrificed on the altar of profiteering and consumerism'. File picture

Research is to be conducted by the Children’s Rights Alliance on how children’s online safety is impacted by the right to privacy.

It comes just weeks after a decision by the European Council to extend a temporary measure until April 3 next year, allowing technology companies to detect and remove child sexual abuse material in private, non-encrypted communications.

The extension enables providers to continue carrying out such checks without risking penalties for breaches of EU data protection rules. However, the current regime does not apply to end-to-end encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal.

Until April, providers could voluntarily scan both encrypted and non-encrypted communications for child sexual abuse material under a broader temporary derogation.

When that arrangement expired, it was replaced with a narrower stopgap measure while EU institutions continue to negotiate a permanent system which would meet the concerns around the protection of children online while also not breaching data protection rules.

Last month, the Children’s Right Alliance’s online safety co-ordinator, Noeline Blackwell, said the profits of technology firms are being put before the rights of children by not providing a permanent European policy to tackle the issue.

Now, the alliance is looking for an external researcher to work on an “issues paper” which is scheduled to be completed before the end of the year.

The alliance says: “The issues paper will be used to inform a principles-based communications framework that will support ongoing campaigns. We want to address the current imbalance in the discourse whereby there is a belief that the right to privacy trumps the right to protection.” 

The organisation says that Ireland can build a safer, more inclusive digital landscape that upholds children’s rights and well-being in an increasingly digital world. It says that as European headquarters of “several social media and tech giants” are located in Ireland, the country “is also uniquely placed to be a leader at the European level". 

It added: “The responsibility to create a safe, inclusive, and empowering digital world is not a policy preference but a matter of human rights for children and young people.” 

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The Children's Rights Alliance has asked the Government to prioritise the development of a permanent solution during its six-month presidency of the EU. The alliance published its first Online Safety Monitor last year, which called on the government to lead reform of EU laws to combat the production, hosting, access and use of child sexual abuse material.

At a recent conference in Cork on the use of technology in human trafficking, chief executive of the Irish Internet Hotline, Mick Moran, said that giving young children smartphones is "an abdication of responsibility by parents" that sees youngsters "being sacrificed on the altar of profiteering and consumerism”.