Irish Examiner view: Children’s privacy at risk from AI
Almost three quarters of eight to 12-year-olds still have accounts on 13+ social media apps, while a quarter of them reported negative experiences online, including a rise in exposure to sexual content among 12- to 15-year-olds Picture: iStock
The annual report of CyberSafeKids was published this week and it makes for dispiriting reading.
The report performs a valuable service by giving us a sense of the exploitation of children by large tech companies — an abstract notion much of the time, but here it takes on concrete shape.
CyberSafeKids found that almost three quarters of eight to 12-year-olds still have accounts on 13+ social media apps, while one quarter of them reported negative experiences online, including a rise in exposure to sexual content among 12- to 15-year-olds.
On top of that is a huge increase in the numbers of children using artificial intelligence (AI) for schoolwork, though most of them have never been given guidance on the use of AI and many have never considered the risks of sharing information with it.
Readers may be aware of the multibillion-dollar settlement recently reached by Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, with US states recently.
It is depressing to state that such social media platforms appear to be beyond shame or consequences when it comes to children using those platforms.
Read More
However, the rise of AI compounds the problems caused by social media platforms. There are obvious issues with AI being used by schoolchildren — leaning on an unreliable resource is clearly no substitute for real learning, not to mention non-consensual intimate imagery (“nudification tools”), impersonation, and identity fraud, as well as the generation of harmful content.
But there is a particular problem which may have ramifications for future generations. The report found that many children had never thought about the risk of sharing information with AI.
With social media and AI companies alike, there seem to be no scruples about the content being shared, but it may be more concerning in the long term that between them, they have normalised the sharing of personal information.
This report seems a harbinger of a world where the term “personal information” itself seems a contradiction in terms.
Last May, the Irish Patients’ Association called for a national central electronic database of patient records. The context? Almost 100,000 legal requests for information from the HSE over three years, mostly from patients looking for their own personal medical records.
At the time it was reported that most Irish hospitals used either electronic systems that did not link up with other systems, or a largely paper-based record-keeping system.
This week, the HSE was fined €645,000 for storing personal records in disused bathrooms and a turf shed, which led to documents left rotting and covered in mould and animal droppings. As reported here, the Data Protection Commission (DPC), which imposed the fine, stated that inspections found storage areas in “profound disarray and neglect”, with records stored in disused bathrooms, cubicles, and a shipping container.
It was surprising to learn in May that paper records were being maintained in parts of the HSE, but it is shocking to learn that people’s personal records are being kept in derelict toilets and turf sheds.
What makes this even more striking is that an investigation only began when intruders gained unauthorised access to two derelict psychiatric hospitals and found records stored in them. If those incidents had not sparked that investigation, those records would surely have been left to moulder away undisturbed.
It is unacceptable that patient records be kept on paper at a time when almost every transaction required of citizens can be done online. It is outrageous, however, that personal records are treated in such a disrespectful way by the HSE. The fine imposed by the DPC should be taken as more than a financial penalty — it should be seen as the nadir for the HSE’s performance in this area, leaving the organisation no excuse not to show immediate and significant improvement with its record keeping systems.
The pitches for particular areas of interest covered in next month’s budget are now coming thick and fast, and Tadgh McNally identified this week when reporting enterprise minister Peter Burke’s push for a cut to the excise duty on alcohol.
The proposal is being explored primarily as a way to help pubs, and in particular those which do not serve food. The reduced Vat rate of 9% for hospitality introduced last year does not apply to alcoholic drinks.
Mr Burke’s timing could hardly be better in one sense.
As reported here by Martin Claffey, a report published this week stated that one quarter of all Irish pubs — some 2,205 premises in all — have closed their doors since 2005 and the report predicted that up to 1,000 more pubs could follow suit. A cut to excise duty could perhaps save some of those threatened pubs, particularly in rural areas.
However, such a move does not have universal support. Both Alcohol Action Ireland and the Irish Medical Organisation have urged the Government to increase the rate of excise on alcohol products, with the former organisation citing a “strong public health case” for doing so.
It would be an interesting academic exercise to trace how interest in Irish pubs has waned in parallel with greater health awareness, but in the short term, the budget provisions on excise duty will be watched very carefully.
Given recent events, Alcohol Action Ireland’s argument that raising excise duties would help reduce alcohol-related harms, including road deaths, may prove decisive on this occasion.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
