Protecting Your Children’s Online Privacy
Protecting your children’s information online can be a challenge. They
may not understand how sensitive data is, freely offering information
such as their name, age, or address to strangers without a second
thought. Knowing how to remove personal information from Google helps, and there are steps you can take to prevent your child’s information from spreading online.
Opt Out of Data Broker Sites
Your first order of business is opting out of data broker sites to remove any information about your children that is already online. Opting out with individual data broker sites means information removal from Whitepages, MyLife, Spokeo, and more. Data broker sites buy and sell information from names to family members, from addresses to phone numbers. By opting out, they are not allowed to do this, and the information is removed. You can find guides online to do this manually or hire a service like DeleteMe to do the time-consuming work for you.
Federal regulations prohibit the collection of data about minors under the age of 13 without parental consent. That, however, doesn’t necessarily mean websites aren’t doing it, and most states don’t have additional rules governing the data of teenagers. In March 2019, ALC Inc., a New Jersey data broker site, failed to acknowledge it possessed data on minors per Vermont state law when registering with the state. It then tried to sell data on 1.2 million students between the ages of 14 and 17. The information included names, addresses, high schools, hobbies, parents’ names, household income, ethnicity, and more.
Change Privacy Settings on Social Media
If your children are on social media, check their privacy settings. It’s possible they are only sharing posts and profile information with friends, or they could be broadcasting personal information to the entire internet. Strangers could be reading their posts, and data broker sites could be scraping information.
It’s best to limit what information is available, even with secure privacy settings. In 2019, both Facebook and YouTube settled with the FTC over agency probes into privacy violations. Google agreed to pay between $150 and $200 million after YouTube was found collecting personal information from minors, using it for targeted advertisements without parental consent. This violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA restricts what information can be collected about children under age 13.
Ask Grandparents Not to Post Information About the Family
One potential avenue for your children’s information appearing online is your parents. Grandparents may not understand how online privacy works, posting photos of your children online without changing any privacy settings. You may have a policy about not posting photos or information about your children to social media, but your parents may not know this. It’s also possible they tag themselves in a photo of your children, opening the photo up to a wider audience you did not approve. Educate them about online privacy and ask them to be careful when talking about your children online.
Discuss Privacy with Your Kids
In the end, it’s best to sit down with your children and teach them best practices about putting information online. Let them know to be wary of strangers online and to not provide more information than absolutely needed. Take an interest in what your children are doing online. Without knowing how to remove it, the information they post could remain online forever. Fortunately, one can sign up for a family subscription with DeleteMe to help keep the personal information of parents and children private year-round. A leader in online privacy, DeleteMe has carried out more than 20 million consumer opt-outs and has guides online if you have the desire (and time) to do it yourself.
About DeleteMe
DeleteMe has set a high standard in the online privacy and information security industries with their efficient, effective internet privacy strategies. Based in Boston, their expert privacy team uses proprietary technology and in-depth knowledge of opt-out and privacy policies to remove your personal details from data broker sites. DeleteMe has successfully completed more than 20 million consumer opt-outs to date and can help remove personal information from Google by targeting over 30 of the biggest data broker sites. Ensure your personal information stays private year-round with a DeleteMe subscription.
Learn more about keeping online information private at Joindeleteme.com
Opt Out of Data Broker Sites
Your first order of business is opting out of data broker sites to remove any information about your children that is already online. Opting out with individual data broker sites means information removal from Whitepages, MyLife, Spokeo, and more. Data broker sites buy and sell information from names to family members, from addresses to phone numbers. By opting out, they are not allowed to do this, and the information is removed. You can find guides online to do this manually or hire a service like DeleteMe to do the time-consuming work for you.
Federal regulations prohibit the collection of data about minors under the age of 13 without parental consent. That, however, doesn’t necessarily mean websites aren’t doing it, and most states don’t have additional rules governing the data of teenagers. In March 2019, ALC Inc., a New Jersey data broker site, failed to acknowledge it possessed data on minors per Vermont state law when registering with the state. It then tried to sell data on 1.2 million students between the ages of 14 and 17. The information included names, addresses, high schools, hobbies, parents’ names, household income, ethnicity, and more.
Change Privacy Settings on Social Media
If your children are on social media, check their privacy settings. It’s possible they are only sharing posts and profile information with friends, or they could be broadcasting personal information to the entire internet. Strangers could be reading their posts, and data broker sites could be scraping information.
It’s best to limit what information is available, even with secure privacy settings. In 2019, both Facebook and YouTube settled with the FTC over agency probes into privacy violations. Google agreed to pay between $150 and $200 million after YouTube was found collecting personal information from minors, using it for targeted advertisements without parental consent. This violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA restricts what information can be collected about children under age 13.
Ask Grandparents Not to Post Information About the Family
One potential avenue for your children’s information appearing online is your parents. Grandparents may not understand how online privacy works, posting photos of your children online without changing any privacy settings. You may have a policy about not posting photos or information about your children to social media, but your parents may not know this. It’s also possible they tag themselves in a photo of your children, opening the photo up to a wider audience you did not approve. Educate them about online privacy and ask them to be careful when talking about your children online.
Discuss Privacy with Your Kids
In the end, it’s best to sit down with your children and teach them best practices about putting information online. Let them know to be wary of strangers online and to not provide more information than absolutely needed. Take an interest in what your children are doing online. Without knowing how to remove it, the information they post could remain online forever. Fortunately, one can sign up for a family subscription with DeleteMe to help keep the personal information of parents and children private year-round. A leader in online privacy, DeleteMe has carried out more than 20 million consumer opt-outs and has guides online if you have the desire (and time) to do it yourself.
About DeleteMe
DeleteMe has set a high standard in the online privacy and information security industries with their efficient, effective internet privacy strategies. Based in Boston, their expert privacy team uses proprietary technology and in-depth knowledge of opt-out and privacy policies to remove your personal details from data broker sites. DeleteMe has successfully completed more than 20 million consumer opt-outs to date and can help remove personal information from Google by targeting over 30 of the biggest data broker sites. Ensure your personal information stays private year-round with a DeleteMe subscription.
Learn more about keeping online information private at Joindeleteme.com
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