By Evan Enzer
The advent of child monitoring software sacrificed teens physical safety and independence in the name of online safety. Now, with a renewed focus on children’s privacy legislation this fall, the U.S. risks codifying those dynamics under the force of law.
Most of us agree that spying applications shouldn’t track survivors of abuse and journalists, but companies are selling the idea that this dangerous technology belongs on kids’ phones. “There is no differentiation” between spy software and child-monitoring applications, according to human rights lawyer Cynthia Khoo, and some vendors even market the same products as both. Parents shouldn’t buy it.
According to experts, many adults “recognize the need to trust and respect their children’s emerging autonomy, but at the same time, they seek to preserve their teens’ physical safety and emotional well-being.” I’ve heard this sentiment expressed by parents, and I know I will feel similarly when I have children.
But evidence suggests that monitoring does not work and harms family relationships. We’ve seen content monitoring and surveillance wrongly flag medical photos as predatory, block words like bone in reference to paleontology, and turn children into targets for hackers. For all this, surveilled teens report that surveillance makes them more likely to behave more recklessly.
Companies claim that in-depth digital controls are in a child’s best interest, but the greatest threats to children are the people they know. Parents and guardians are more likely to abuse their children than anyone else. Parents make up over 77% of child abusers, and non-parent relatives are another 7%. Abusers turn to tracking applications to exert control, and even non-abusive parents can use online monitoring in harmful ways. Unsupportive guardians can look at their child’s browsing information to see if they identify as LGBTQ+, take hormonal birth control, or explore new religions. And this may continue for decades. Sometimes, un-consensual monitoring can continue into college and a child’s twenties. Even if your children aren’t at risk, millions are.
Beyond tangible harms, teens need their space. When I was younger, I thought my parents didn’t understand me. They were great role models, but I felt they would disapprove if I followed a different path. Whether this was true or not wasn’t the issue; I didn’t feel free to learn about subversive art, make my own friends, explore new religions, or develop political ideas. Nothing could stay private in my room, and I could not be myself without my own space. Those feelings were normal, most teens feel similarly.
I found my space on the internet. Guild Wars became somewhere I could refine my social skills, Wikipedia became a site where I could explore new ideas, and Soundcloud became a place where I could discover weird electronic music. The internet was mostly out of reach from adult eyes, and I was confident that I wouldn’t be judged there. Sure, I got into some mischief, online and off, but I was responsible enough to stay safe, and figuring things out for myself was the best way to learn.
Many kids don’t have the same online freedom I did. Surveillance programs give adults unfettered control over teens’ phones. Parents can read texts and emails, check application activity, track internet history, block websites, filter content on important reproductive and mental health topics, and view a child’s location. They can also set up automatic alerts to be notified when events occur on the device or the child arrives at a particular place. It’s not just the child using the phone or computer that ends up being surveilled. These programs also sweep up friends and classmates who send texts or emails to the monitored child.
This level of invasive monitoring can stifle child development. Anne Collier, a child-safety journalist, summarizes the issue well: “When you’re an adolescent, you’re exploring who you are and your place in the world, and you need to have the chance to do that without being in a petri dish under a microscope.” Like “helicopter parenting” does offline, online monitoring may harm children’s ability to develop safe and healthy habits. Studies show that even adults are more hesitant to engage with sensitive topics when they are being watched, and parents should understand that children need the same intellectual freedom they crave.
I’m concerned that child surveillance is only becoming more accepted. More than half of parents use some form of online monitoring, 81% percent of teachers say their schools monitor student devices, and tens of millions of families use location-tracking apps. Recently, federal lawmakers moved forward with the Kids Online Safety Act, which could give adults more control over teenagers’ online lives, New York proposed similar legislation, and California passed its Age Appropriate Design Code Act. Of course, not all monitoring is equally harmful, but this all makes for a troubling trend.
Instead of putting kids under a microscope, we need to educate them with trust. Only building relationships can set children and teens up for success and encourage them to reach out when they need help.
Evan Enzer is a privacy professional and legal fellow at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.