Online Tracking of Kids and Teens by Means of Invisible Images

Abstract

The recent news of a large-scale online tracking campaign involving Facebook users, which gave way to systematic misuse of the collected user-related data, has left millions of people deeply concerned about the state of their online privacy as well as the state of the overall information security in the cyber world. While most to-date revelations pertaining to user tracking are related to websites and social media generally intended for adult online users, relatively little is known about the prevalence of online tracking in websites geared towards children and teens. In this paper, we first provide a brief overview of two laws that seek to protect the privacy of kids and teens online-the US Children's Online Privacy Act (COPPA) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Subsequently, we present the results of our study which has looked for potential signs of user tracking in twenty select children-oriented websites in case of a user located in the USA (where COPPA is applicable) as well as a user located in the EU (where GDPR is applicable). The key findings of this study are alarming as they point to overwhelming evidence of widespread and highly covert user tracking in a range of different children-oriented websites. The majority of the discovered tracking is in direct conflict with both COPPA and GDPR, since it is performed without parental consent and by third-party advertising and tracking companies. The results also imply that, relative to their US counterparts, the children residing in the EU may be somewhat less subjected (but are still significantly exposed) to tracking by third-party companies.

Characterising Third Party Cookie Usage in the EU after GDPR

“…Senzing Inc. [14] suggests that around 60% of European companies are not yet prepared for GDPR and 44% of the EU's larges companies are worried about compliance with GDPR. [18] studies kids and teenagers' privacy and finds the EU children may be subject to more third party tracking compared to the US. [8] examines news websites and finds that UK in particular has a high level of tracking.…”

Towards Suitable Free-to-Play Games for Children

“…COPPA disallows certain data collection practices, as well as requiring parental consent. Further, it prohibits having targeting advertisements (Vlajic et al, 2018). The study Reyes et al (2018) revealed that the majority of the free children's apps potentially are violating COPPA.…”

“…GDPR aims to provide guidance in privacy and data protection and improve scientific integrity of human-related studies. GDPR has a broader focus than COPPA and is written to be a flexible legal framework that can be customized further by the countries in the EU (Vlajic et al, 2018). However, it is as strong as COPPA regarding the protection of children's privacy online.…”

Critical Analysis of the Risks in the Use of the Internet and Social Networks in Childhood and Adolescence

“…Among other things, this information will be used to make business decisions, to create consumer profiles or behavioural trends. Furthermore, Vlajic et al ( 2018 ) argue that this type of tracking, in terms of user privacy, can be considered a major risk, because it could lead to the extraction and leakage of sensitive personal data. But it is also related to other ethical issues such as weblining [a practise that makes a user ineligible for certain goods and services based on their online profile] because, although today there is the possibility of creating anonymous avatars, with the increasing development of technology, it is very likely that, in the future, the anonymous digital avatar can be linked to the real person and their real-life transactions (Corcoran and Costache, 2018 ).…”