Minori in rete: l’illusione del consenso e l’equivoco della privacy

Minors are particularly exposed on the web, a virtual place where they can develop their personality but that’s also full of risk linked to browsing that’s not always aware and safe. At 14, then, consent for the processing of personal data in information society services (therefore also social networks) is provided directly by the child and parental control systems are interrupted abruptly and can not be maintained by parents without the will of the child. That reduces parents’ ability to control and guide and affects the very exercise of parental responsibility. The problem of minors on line is not only a problem of privacy but of protection of fundamental rights that can be more easily damaged in the internet for the inexperience and immaturity and for the lack of age verification. The physical and mental development of the browsing child can be compromised in the absence of an adequate monitoring system also by the platforms, that’s now at the heart of the new EU legislation.