2022 Child Abuse Prevention Conference

Presenting Sponsor: Iowa MIECHV

Children Deserve Privacy Too | May 12, 2022

Riana Pfefferkorn – Research Scholar, Stanford Internet Observatory

This talk will highlight how modern technologies in use by today’s children have 2 sides: they have major benefits, not just the capacity for harm. It will discuss the often-misunderstood technology of encryption, which protects the privacy of our devices, online files, and communications against would-be snoops. It will discuss how encryption and other online technologies are essential to protecting children, particularly those in marginalized populations such as LGBTQIA teens. Apple’s controversial August 2021 proposal to add several child-safety features to iPhones will be used as a case study. I will then discuss my recently-published original research regarding the strategies that online service providers use to detect online abuse, including child safety offenses, to illustrate that online privacy and child safety are not incompatible goals. The main point of this talk is to get the audience to understand that children need and deserve privacy, too – not only as today’s children, but as tomorrow’s adults.

Some resources:

• Content-Oblivious Trust and Safety Techniques: Results from a Survey of Online Service Providers
• Social Media: Tips for Foster Parents and Caregivers
• Encryption, Privacy and Children’s Right to Protection from Harm
• What is encryption and why does it matter for children?
• Let’s Talk Teens
• Let’s Talk Adults