Tsaaro announced the key findings of its survey on privacy among children and the data privacy scare of their future. The extensive study saw participation from more than 700 + people pan India. Tsaaro aimed to gather valuable insights and on that basis drafted a detailed report which depicted the stand of people, especially parents, on the privacy among children.
This survey mainly focuses on critical approaches to studying children’s privacy in the digital environment and children’s understandings, experiences, and views of privacy online. The team studied the Draft DPB, 2021, and IT Act and analyzed reports by international organizations on the privacy issues children face, extensively, and formulated the questionnaire accordingly.
The survey was sent out to parents via different platforms to ensure maximum participation. When the parents were asked if they were aware of data privacy, the numbers made us realize that with the change in the working of the world in general and the internet in specific, people have started giving data privacy equal importance to that of other fundamental rights. 93% of parents said that they are aware of what data privacy is and on the other hand 67% of parents answered with a yes, saying children require data privacy. 80% of parents believe that the legislature should take immediate steps to ensure the data privacy of children.
This survey analyzed whether parents take steps to ensure that their child's online presence and privacy is safe. The numbers show a high sign of parents trying to inculcate the idea of privacy in them young. Several parents mentioned that they ensure that their children use devices in a commonplace, under their supervision, familiarise themselves with the applications their children use, keep track of their online footprint, etc. 68% of parents stated they received messages/emails from coaching institutes, etc. with their child’s information, even though they had not provided them any information regarding their children. 41% of parents are not aware of any laws that help safeguard their child’s data which was shocking especially in this digital era.
Akarsh Singh Co-founder CEO, of Tsaaro, said “Parents have incorporated steps to ensure that their children are familiar with privacy but there are a few problems that these parents state that they face while trying to teach their children about privacy. This issue is the immense technicality and usage of jargon. This raises the question of whether the concept of data privacy cannot be simplified. We noticed a sense of disparity when it came to how parents keep themselves informed about the manners in which they can ensure that they are well informed of how they can provide their child's privacy because the answers were scattered’’
The survey only goes on to reemphasize that the children need more protection. The survey results were the outcome of collaboration with Delhi Public School, DAV Public School, Maa Anandmayee Memorial School, and Sugni Devi Sr. Secondary School. The first step toward that would be for parents to educate themselves and understand how and where their children share their data. Only then can reliable solutions be developed, and the parents can take steps. Parents need to adopt more personal, verbal approaches for creating safer internet experiences and use the available tools to help start having those conversations.
