Government backs campaign for children’s ‘right to be forgotten’

A new campaign giving children the ‘right to be forgotten’ has been reported by the BBC recently and is being backed by companies and charities such as the NSPCC, Barclays Bank and Schillings, the law firm.

Supported by Baroness Shields, the Minister for Internet Safety and Security, the campaign ‘iRights’ wants to give children the right to either amend or delete anything they’ve posted online and to educate them about how their data could be used. The aim is to have both the commercial world and government working together to give youngsters more protection and in her words, ‘to make a better digital world for young people’.

This proposal reflects EU laws such as the new data protection rules that will come into effect next year. With there being criticism that too many companies don’t give sufficient consideration to the subject of privacy, Ian Walden, a legal expert at Queen Mary University of London remarks:

‘There needs to be a focus on responsibility when dealing with those children, which isn’t always present.’

For more information, visit the website iRights.