Where policy and practice collide: Comparing United States,South African and European Union approaches to protecting children online

Abstract

That children have a right to protection when they go online is an internationally well-established principle, upheld in laws that seek to safeguard children from online abuse and exploitation. However, children’s own transgressive behaviour can test the boundaries of this protection regime, creating new dilemmas for lawmakers the world over. This article examines the policy response from both the Global North and South to young people’s online behaviour that may challenge adult conceptions of what is acceptable, within existing legal and policy frameworks. It asks whether the ‘childhood innocence’ implied in much protection discourse is a helpful basis for promoting children’s rights in the digital age. Based on a comparative analysis of the emerging policy trends in Europe, South Africa and the United States, the article assesses the implications for policymakers and child welfare specialists as they attempt to redraw the balance between children’s online safety while supporting their agency as digital citizens.

Keywords

Bullying child pornography children Europe Internet legislation legitimacy protection South Africa United States youth

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Badenhorst

(2011) Legal responses to cyberbullying and sexting in South Africa. CJCP Issue Paper 20. Claremont, CA: Center for Justice and Crime Prevention.

Bond

(2010) Managing mobile relationships: children’s perceptions of the impact of the mobile phone on relationships in their everyday lives. Childhood 17: 514–529.

Brown

Pecora

(2014) Online data privacy as a children’s media right: toward global policy principles. Journal of Children and Media 8: 201–207.

Chronaki

(2013) Young People’s Accounts of their Experiences with Mediated Sexual Content during Childhood and Teenage Life. Loughborough: Loughborough University. Available at: https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/bitstream/2134/15928/3/Thesis-2014-Chronaki.pdf

Critcher

(2006) Critical Readings: Moral Panics and the Media. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

De Haan

(2009) Maximising opportunities and minimising risks for children online. In: Livingstone

Haddon

(eds) Kids Online. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 187–198.

De Haan

van der Hof

Bekkers

(2013) Self-regulation. In: O’Neill

Staksrud

McLaughlin

(eds) Towards a Better Internet for Children? Policy Pillars, Players and Paradoxes. Gøteborg: Nordicom, pp. 111–129.

Dinh

Farrugia

O’Neill

. (2016) Insafe Helplines: Operations, Effectiveness and Emerging Issues for Internet Safety Helplines. Brussels: Insafe, European Schoolnet.

Donoso

(2011) Assessment of the Implementation of the Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU on 14 Websites: Summary Report. Brussels: European Commission.

10.

Downes

(1999) Children’s and parents’ discourses about computers in the home and school. Convergence 5: 104–111.

11.

Drotner

(1999) Dangerous media? Panic discourses and dilemmas of modernity. Paedagogica Historica 35: 593–619.

12.

Eraker

(2010) Stemming sexting: sensible legal approaches to teenager’s exchange of self-produced pornography. Berkeley Technology Law Journal 25: 554–596.

13.

Eurostat (2013) European Social Statistics. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3930297/5968986/KS-FP-13-001-EN.PDF/

14.

Fine

McClelland

(2006) Sexuality education and desire: still missing after all these years. Harvard Educational Review 76(3): 297–338.

15.

Heins

(2008) Not in Front of the Children: Indecency, Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

16.

Holland

(2008) The child in the picture. In: Drotner

Livingstone

(eds) The International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture. London: SAGE, pp. 36–54.

17.

Hunter

(2000) Internet filter effectiveness – testing over- and underinclusive blocking decisions of four popular web filters. Social Science Computer Review 18: 214–222.

18.

Jeney

(2015) Combatting Child Sexual Abuse Online. Brussels: European Parliament: Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union.

19.

Jonsson

Bladh

Priebe

. (2015) Online sexual behaviours among Swedish youth: associations to background factors, behaviours and abuse. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 24(10): 1245–1260.

20.

Kuipers

(2006) The social construction of digital danger. New Media & Society 8: 379–400.

21.

Lee

Crofts

McGovern

. (2015) Sexting among Young People: Perceptions and Practices (No. 5018). Canberra, ACT, Australia: Australian Institute of Criminology.

22.

Lenhart

(2015) Teens, Social Media and Technology Overview 2015: Smartphones Facilitate Shifts in Communication Landscape for Teens. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.

23.

Ling

Haddon

(2008) Children, youth and the mobile phone. In: Drotner

Livingstone

(eds) The International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture. London: SAGE, pp. 137–151.

24.

Livingstone

Carr

Byrne

(2015) One in Three: Internet Governance and Children’s Rights. Waterloo, ON, Canada: Global Commission on Internet Governance.

25.

Livingstone

Kirwil

Ponte

. (2014) In their own words: what bothers children online? European Journal of Communication 29: 271–288.

26.

Mansell

Raboy

(2011) The handbook of global media and communication policy. In: Sreberny

(ed.) Global Handbooks in Media and Communications Research. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing.

27.

Mascheroni

Vincent

Jimenez

(2015) ‘Girls are addicted to likes so they post semi-naked selfies’: peer mediation, normativity and the construction of identity online. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace 9: 30–43.

28.

Myers

(2013) Texas legislative implications for minors accused of sexting. St. Mary’s Law Journal 45: 73–102.

29.

Nunziato

(2012) Romeo and Juliet online and in trouble: criminalizing depictions of teen sexuality (c u l8r: g2g2 jail). Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property 10: 57–92.

30.

Pasquier

(2008) From parental control to peer pressure: cultural transmission and conformism. In: Drotner

Livingstone

(eds) The International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture. London: SAGE, pp. 448–459.

31.

Phyfer

Burton

Leoschut

(2016) South African kids online: barriers, opportunities, and risks. A glimpse into South African children’s internet use and online activities. Technical report. Cape Town, South Africa: Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention. Available at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/gko/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/GKO_Country-Report_South-Africa_CJCP_upload.pdf

32.

Slavtcheva-Petkova

Nash

Bulger

(2015) Evidence on the extent of harms experienced by children as a result of online risks: implications for policy and research. Information Communication & Society 18(1): 48–62.

33.

South African Law Reform Commission (2015) Sexual offences: pornography and children. Issue paper no. 30, project 107, 5 August. Available at: http://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/media/20150805-ip-prj107.pdf

34.

Spooner

Vaughn

(2016) Youth sexting: a legislative and constitutional analysis. Journal of School Violence 15: 213–233.

35.

Staksrud

(2013a) Children in the Online World: Risk, Regulation, Rights. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing.

36.

Staksrud

(2013b) Online grooming legislation: knee-jerk regulation? European Journal of Communication 28: 152–167.

37.

Staksrud

Kirksæther

(2013) Filtering and content classification. In: O’Neill

Staksrud

McLaughlin

(eds) Towards a Better Internet for Children? Policy Pillars, Players and Paradoxes. Gothenburg: Nordicom, pp. 23–38.

38.

Statistics South Africa (2016) General household survey, 2015. Available at http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0318/P03182015.pdf

39.

Sutter

(2000) ‘Nothing new under the sun’: old fears and new media. International Journal of Law and Information Technology 8: 338–378.

40.

Sweeny

(2011) Do sexting prosecutions violate teenagers’ constitutional rights? San Diego Legal Review 48: 951–992.

41.

United States (US) Census Bureau (2015) Population Estimates Program (PEP). Available at: https://www.census.gov/popest/

42.

United States vs American Library Association (2003) 539 US 194.

43.

Wolak

Finkelhor

Mitchell

(2012) Trends in Law Enforcement Responses to Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation Crimes: The Third National Juvenile Online Victimization Study (NJOV-3). Durham, NH: Crimes against Children Research Center.

44.

AH vs State of Florida (2007) 949 So. 2d 234, Fla. Dist. Ct. App.

45.

Ashcroft vs American Civil Liberties Union (2004) 542 US 656.

46.

Certain Activities Relating to Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of Minors 18 USC § 2252.

47.

Consortium on Crime and Violence Prevention (2015) Submission made to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on the Amendment Bill to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 9 March, Cape Town. Available at: http://www.saferspaces.org.za/resources/entry/dialogue-on-safety-and-security-insights-from-cape-town

48.

Constitutional Court of South Africa (2013) Judgment: Teddy Bear Clinic for abused children and others vs the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and others [2013] ZACC 35. Available at: www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/2013/35.html

49.

Council of Europe (2010) Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. CETS no. 201(2010). Available at: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=201&CM=8&DF=&CL=ENG

50.

European Union (EU) (2011) Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA. Available at: http://db.eurocrim.org/db/en/doc/1715.pdf

51.

European Commission (2012) Communication on the European Strategy for a Better Internet for Children. COM(2012) 196. Brussels: European Commission. Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0196:FIN:EN:PDF

52.

Human Rights Council (2016) The promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet. In: United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council 32nd Session, Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development: A/HRC/32/L20. Available at: https://www.article19.org/data/files/Internet_Statement_Adopted.pdf

53.

Office of Film and Literature Classification (2013) Young people’s perceptions of media content. A literature review. Available at: www.classificationoffice.govt.nz/PDFs/research-young-peoples-perceptions-literature-review-2013.pdf

54.

Ot.prp.nr.18 (2006–2007) Om lov om endringer i straffeloven 1902 mv. (straffebud om å møte et barn med forsett om å begå seksuelt overgrep mv.). Justis- og politidepartementet, 34.

55.

Republic of South Africa (1996) Films and Publications Act, Act No. 65 of 1996. Available at: http://www.fpb.org.za/profile-fpb/legislation1/293-films-and-publications-act-no-65/file

56.

Republic of South Africa (2007) Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act (Act No. 32 of 2007).

57.

Republic of South Africa (2015) Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act. Act No. 5 of 2015. Available at: www.parliament.gov.za/live/commonrepository/Processed/20150721/609800_1.pdf

58.

Sexual Exploitation of Children, 18 United States Code § 2251.

59.

United Kingdom (UK) Parliament (2003) Sexual Offences Act 2003: Acts of Parliament. London: HMSO.

60.

United Nations (UN) (1989) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Entry into Force 2 September 1990, in Accordance with Article 49, Adopted and Opened for Signature, Ratification and Accession by General Assembly Resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989). New York: UN. Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

61.

United States (US) Department of Justice (2015) Sexual exploitation and other abuse of children, 18 USC Ch. 110. Available at: http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter110&edition=prelim

62.

United States Supreme Court. (1997) Reno v. ACLU.