Children’s Rights and Technology in the Digital Age
Children’s Rights and Technology in the Digital Age
In this day and age, educating and empowering all those that use technology to make informed and rights-based choices for younger and future generations is crucial. Digital technologies – such as artificial intelligence software, biometric recognition systems, and algorithmic information silos – have already shifted the dynamic of many homes, classrooms, and multimedia platforms, but is the child’s best interest central to these experiences? How does technology shape the minds and behaviors of the coming generations? Due to the rapid evolution of technologies, it is vital to continually analyse and hypothesise the impacts they are having or will have on children.
There are not enough questions being asked of those who are developing or allowing (by way of lack of regulation) these technologies to permeate both the public and private spaces. Furthermore, not only is there a wide knowledge gap in relation to children’s rights and technology, but there is a great disconnect between the users and the experts. Better educating the masses about how technology can positively and negatively influence children will create a more informed debate on critical next steps for how we choose to shape the future of our society.
This MOOC will take a deep dive into just how often children are exposed to these futuristic, and sometimes problematic, technological developments and investigate what that means for a vulnerable group that may not fully understand the implications – be they positive or negative – or meaning of consent. Through a human rights approach, this course will play a role in promoting a more ethical, human-centric, and accessible tech-infused future. It is critical that we call attention to this issue now, while we still have the ability to moderate technological implementation as it continually seeps into our everyday lives. We want to challenge the diverse audience of our MOOC to be critical consumers and informed advocates for children’s rights in the digital age.
Course Outline
The course is structured in five modules:
Module 1 introduces the main concepts the MOOC will address. Starting with an overview of children’s rights, it then moves to explain the key technologies of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and biometrics and how they impact children in unprecedented ways.
Module 2 focuses on children’s right to privacy and data protection, examining existing legal instruments, international recommendations, and examples of how technologies interfere with these rights in areas such as facial recognition, biometric data collection and advertising.
Module 3 delves into the linkages between early-childhood development and new technologies and examines the right to play in the digital age. It provides insights into the legal instruments and recommendations in this field, with a case study on smart toys research.
Module 4 explores what the right to education means in the digital era. A legal overview will be provided before examining examples of AI and facial recognition in the classroom in addition to positive examples of educational technology and their role in preparing children for the future workplace.
Module 5 investigates positive and negative developments in the field of new technologies and children’s right to health and safety, with particular focus on digital health and child online exploitation.
Lecturers and Experts
Coordinated by a team of researchers from GC Europe, the course features relevant actors from a multitude of perspectives on the topic, ranging from legal experts on privacy and data protection for children and researchers studying technology’s effects on child development
to policy experts and activists working for civil society organisations,
thus enabling participants to benefit from rich and varied competences,
experiences and knowledge. Contributors include, among many others:
Upon completion of this course participants will have gained:
Knowledge about the developing international standards for the protection of the human rights of children in the context of AI & biometrics--concerning privacy, education, surveillance and more
Awareness of the latest research concerning how technology is impacting childhood development and what questions are still unanswered
Information on modern contextual situations, examples, and case studies from different regions of the world
Understanding of challenges and limitations in the current environment as it relates to research, regulation, and technological development with a human rights approach
The ability to identify some legal, political and social strategies to safeguard the human rights of children in relation to data protection and mindful technological integration
Knowledge of recommendations for families, businesses and governments to bring about change and improvements both at home and in society at large
F.A.Q.s
Enrolment
How do I enrol in the course?
In order to enrol, please follow the instructions on our “How to Enrol” webpage. This will then lead you to the OpenEdX course page. Once you are there, you can start the enrolment process by clicking the "enrol" button.
Is there a selection procedure to participate in the course?
The course is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which means we do not select participants on any basis. Rather, we welcome anyone who is interested in learning more about the topic to enrol and participate for free.
Fees
I would like to know if the course is free or if some parts are to be paid
Our course is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which means all components are open and totally free for anyone.
Do I need to pay any fee to attend the course?
There are no registration or tuition fees.
Accessibility
Is the course accessible to persons with disabilities?
We want all participants in our courses to enjoy a great learning experience and we strive to always improve accessibility. Each week of the course includes one or two video lectures with accompanying transcripts and reading materials. The texts are in PDF format, work at low bandwidths, are printable and can be zoomed to the desired size. Some readings may include pages from accessible websites. This makes all of them accessible to those who use assistive technology software such as screen readers. Likewise, weekly discussions and module quizzes can be completed through our platform which is accessible, for example, to people who use speech input, keyboard accessible controls or text to speech tools. For more details please visit EdX Website Accessibility Policy.
Structure and content
Is there a schedule for the course or is it self-directed?
The course is self-paced so participants can study in their own time.
Certificate of participation
What does it mean “Audit-only”? Will I get a certificate?
Auditors can complete any or all the parts of the course at their own pace, but will not receive a certificate. Participants who want proof of completion can simply print the progress chart that they will find in their course page.
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Edward Snowden
Right Livelihood Laureate
Edward Snowden was born on 21 June 1983, and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2004, volunteering to serve in the Special Forces. Some months into his training, he was separated from the Army due to an injury. In 2005, he began working for the CIA as a computer systems engineer and was posted in 2007 to the CIA station in Geneva, where he became concerned by some of the agency’s unlawful practices. After leaving the CIA, he worked for the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), Dell and finally with contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.
When his concerns grew that the mass surveillance practices that he witnessed violated rights and would, if left unchecked, pose an existential threat to democracy, he first tried to raise concerns within the system, but without an impact. He then worked at great risk within the intelligence agency to directly gather classified evidence revealing unlawful and disproportionate surveillance activities by the U.S. and other governments.
Emma Day is a human rights lawyer, qualified as a solicitor and barrister in Canada (2010) and with an LLM in international human rights law (University of London 2006). She completed her second LLM in law and technology at UC Berkeley in 2020 as a Fulbright Scholar, and is currently an affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, and an Edmund Hillary Fellow.
Emma has been working on human rights legal issues for the past twenty years, during which time she has spent five years living and working in Eastern Africa and six years in Southeast Asia. Emma is currently a consultant lawyer and technical lead for the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific regional work on child online protection, and is working on a UNICEF Data Governance for Children Manifesto. She is also working as a consultant lawyer for the UK Digital Futures Commission, carrying out research on data governance in schools.
Andrew McStay
Professor of Digital Life Bangor University, UK
Andrew McStay is Professor of Digital Life at Bangor University, UK. His most recent book, Emotional AI: The Rise of Empathic Media, examines the impact of technologies that make use of data about affective and emotional life. Director of The Emotional AI Lab, current projects include cross-cultural social analysis of emotional AI in UK and Japan.
Non-academic work includes IEEE membership (P7000/7014) and ongoing advising roles for start-ups, NGOs and policy bodies. He has also appeared and made submissions to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on the right to privacy in the digital age, the UK House of Lords AI Inquiry and the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport Inquiry on emotion, news and reality media.
Neha Gauchan
Programme Officer ChildSafeNet
Neha Gauchan is an alumni of the Global Campus Asia Pacific Master of Arts (APMA) in Human Rights and Democratisation at Mahidol University, Thailand. She is currently based in Nepal and is working as a Programme Officer for ChildSafeNet. Prior to joining ChildSafeNet, Neha worked as a Research Fellow at ECPAT International in Bangkok, Thailand. One of her major responsibilities was to co-author the “Country Overview Report on the Scale, Scope and Context of the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Nepal”.
Besides her interest in child protection, Neha is an avid queer rights enthusiast who is continuously drawn to learning and researching on queer identities and its relation to gender and sexuality. Her postgraduate thesis focused on the narrative analysis on the accessibility of transgender women’s right to sexual health services in Kathmandu, Nepal, which further fueled her activism and advocacy on the rights of queer individuals.
She continues to expand her involvement and contribution in supporting the rights of children and queer community through her academic and professional pursuits.
Marianne Díaz Hernández
Public Policy Analyst Derechos Digitales
Marianne Díaz Hernández is a Venezuelan lawyer, digital rights activist and fiction writer, currently based in Santiago, Chile. Her work focuses mainly on issues regarding online freedom of speech, privacy, web filtering, internet infrastructure and digital security. She founded the digital rights NGO Acceso Libre, a volunteer-based organization that documents threats to human rights in the online environment in Venezuela.
Marianne currently works as a public policy analyst for the Latin American NGO Derechos Digitales. She's volunteered for Global Voices, and particularly for the Advox project, since 2010. She has also published several fiction books. In 2019, she was recognised with the "Human Rights Hero" award, granted by Access Now, for her "research and leading advocacy efforts against invasive measures taken by the Maduro government in Venezuela."
Bertalan Meskó
Director The Medical Futurist Institute
Dr. Bertalan Meskó, PhD is The Medical Futurist and the Director of The Medical Futurist Institute analyzing how science fiction technologies can become reality in medicine and healthcare. As a geek physician with a PhD in genomics, he is also an Amazon Top 100 author. He is also a Private Professor at Semmelweis Medical School, Budapest, Hungary.
With 500+ presentations including courses at Harvard, Stanford and Yale Universities, Singularity University's Futuremed course at NASA Ames campus and organizations including the 10 biggest pharmaceutical companies, he is one of the top voices globally on healthcare technology. Dr. Meskó was featured by dozens of top publications, including CNN, the World Health Organization, National Geographic, Forbes, TIME magazine, BBC, and the New York Times. He publishes his analyses regularly on medicalfuturist.com.
