"Until now, protecting children on the Web has primarily meant keeping them off it,” wrote NPR’s Anya Kamenetz at TechnologyReview.com. Exactly. That has been the direct experience of children all over the world. Because for some 20 years, all around the world, governments, advocates, businesspeople, educators, parents have actually been trying to uphold our children’s rights of protection by … [Read more...] about 4 resolutions for 2020, a pivotal year for Internet safety
UNCRC
Digital youth: Honor ALL their rights
This is a pivotal year for children’s online safety and human rights. One important reason is the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s call for public comments to help it develop the first General Comment on the digital part of fulfilling children’s human rights. Those rights are extensive. There are 54 articles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, falling into 3 categories labeled … [Read more...] about Digital youth: Honor ALL their rights
So where are we with ‘digital citizenship’ now?
This week I had the privilege of participating in a panel discussion in Delhi at Facebook's South Asia Safety Summit with YLAC India (Young Leaders for Active Citizenship). YLAC works "to increase the participation of young people in the democratic process and build their capacity to lead change," using social media as their platform. That is digital citizenship, right? Isn't it necessarily … [Read more...] about So where are we with ‘digital citizenship’ now?
6 takeaways from 20 years of Net safety: Part 2
Now that I've just passed the 20-year mark of writing about youth and digital media, I thought I'd share with you my top takeaways as a participant observer in the Internet safety space. Here's Part 1. Now the three chunks of Part 2: 4. It's individual, situational and contextual. Internet safety works best from the inside out. I love the irony of generalizing the individuality of social media's … [Read more...] about 6 takeaways from 20 years of Net safety: Part 2
Europe’s big step backward for youth rights online, offline
Young people and parents everywhere should know that, where youth rights are concerned, Europe just took a big step backward. Even though every single one of the European Union's 28 countries has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, whose Article 12 states that "children" (people under 18) have the right to express their views in all matters affecting them, a European agreement … [Read more...] about Europe’s big step backward for youth rights online, offline