The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information

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Who is responsible for protecting your children’s data?

Familie aus Strichfiguren
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Whether surfing, posting or playing — the Internet is a matter of course for you and your children. However, your children are still unaware of the risks and consequences of the processing of their personal data, but above all, it is the personal data of children that must be protected. For this reason, the data protection regulations contain obligations in particular for data controllers in relation to children.

Of course, younger children are not yet able to exercise their rights themselves.  If necessary, you, as parents, must exercise this right on their behalf. You, as parents, please support your children from the very beginning in not disclosing their data carelessly. Go ahead with a good example and be careful yourself when revealing your own personal data and that of your children.

If consent is required for the processing of your children’s data, it is first of all your task to provide those data or to refuse them after careful examination. Your children can only give effective consent if they have the necessary ability to understand for themselves what is to happen to their data and what consequences and risks data processing entails.

For information society services, such as social networks, messengers or forums, there is a fixed age limit. In this context, parental consent is required until the child’s 16th birthday. Only from the age of 16 your child may consent to the use of his/her data for these services.

Please keep in mind that consent or also the publication of photos can have many and far-reaching consequences. Consent to extensive data usage is often associated with personalised advertising. When publishing children’s images, there is a risk that third parties will copy and redistribute them right up to the exchange of images on illegal platforms with depictions of sexualised violence against children and adolescents.

In principle, data economy and early sensitisation are the best protection for your children’s data. As parents, you are responsible for protecting your children’s data, especially if your children are too young to exercise their rights themselves.