Video of a recent panel discussion, and links to related readings
Irina Raicu is the director of the Internet Ethics program (@IEthics) at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Views are her own.
On December 1st, as part of the “IT, Ethics, and Law” lecture series (co-sponsored by MCAE and the High Tech Law Institute), I moderated an online panel; the title of our event was “Determining Users’ Ages Online: Ethical, Legal, and Technical Considerations.” The panelists were Eric Goldman (from Santa Clara University’s School of Law), Jennifer King (from the Stanford University Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence), and Sarah Krehbiel (from SCU’s Computer Science department). You can now watch the recording of that conversation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPqX2I98eL0
An update: As many media outlets have reported, a tech trade group has sued to block California’s recently passed Age Appropriate Design Code, which was referenced multiple times by our panel. Two of the panelists had written about the code and its implications; for additional details, the brief list of readings below includes their articles, as well as an analysis (with recommendations) from the French Data Protection Agency (the CNIL), which also came up several times in our conversation. The list also features an overview from the Pew Research Trust, and an article that details a proposed federal law presenting similar issues re. age authentication online.
CNIL: “Online Age Verification: balancing privacy and the protection of minors”: https://www.cnil.fr/en/online-age-verification-balancing-privacy-and-protection-minors
Eric Goldman: “A Short Explainer of How California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Bill (AB2273) Would Break the Internet”: https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2022/08/a-short-explainer-of-how-californias-age-appropriate-design-code-bill-ab2273-would-break-the-internet.htm
Jennifer King: “A Bill Designed to Protect Kids Could Change the Internet for the Better”: https://techpolicy.press/a-bill-designed-to-protect-kids-could-change-the-internet-for-the-better/
Caitlin Dewey: “California’s New Child Privacy Law Could Become National Standard: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2022/11/07/californias-new-child-privacy-law-could-become-national-standard
Maria Curi: “Revamped Kids’ Online Privacy Bill Emerges in Year-End Push (1)”: https://about.bgov.com/news/revamped-kids-privacy-bill-slated-for-release-in-year-end-push/