Childhood 2.0: Hazards of Growing Up in a Socially Networked World

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Research suggests that children are starting to interact online even before learning to read. In the US, 92 per cent of children have an online presence before their second birthday. But the research also shows that youngsters continue to overlook the dangers from sharing too much with too many online. For them, poor judgment combined with inexperience heavily contributes to the host of new online safety challenges facing parents, teachers, and policymakers around the world.

What can be done about this growing virtual epidemic? How do we incentivize technological developments to enhance safety, honour user preferences, and protect personal information? And what role should parents and schools continue to play in solving this common dilemma? In this talk, Data Privacy Attorney Harry A. Valetk poses these questions as part of an ongoing public policy dialogue, and suggests how enhanced design schemes in next-generation technologies could help the situation.