[论文解读] Are Children Well-Supported by Their Parents Concerning Online Privacy Risks, and Who Supports the Parents?

Jun Zhao|arXiv (Cornell University)|Sep 28, 2018

Child Development and Digital Technology参考文献 41被引用 4

一句话总结

本研究通过面对面访谈12个家庭及对250名家长进行在线调查，探讨6至11岁儿童在使用平板电脑时，家长对在线隐私风险的认知与支持情况。研究发现，尽管家长积极限制或监控儿童的应用使用行为，但他们对儿童应用中第三方数据收集行为普遍缺乏认知，凸显了隐私保护方面的关键缺口，亟需更完善的家长支持工具。

ABSTRACT

Tablet computers are becoming ubiquitously available at home or school for young children to complement education or entertainment. However, parents of children aged 6-11 often believe that children are too young to face or comprehend online privacy issues, and often take a protective approach to restrict or monitor what children can access online, instead of discussing privacy issues with children. Parents work hard to protect their children's online safety. However, little is known how much parents are aware of the risks associated with the implicit personal data collection by the first- or third-party companies behind the mobile `apps' used by their children, and hence how well parents can safeguard their children from this kind of risks. Parents have always been playing a pivotal role in mitigating children's interactions with digital technologies --- from TV to game consoles, to personal computers --- but the rapidly changing technologies are posing challenges for parents to keep up with. There is a pressing need to understand how much parents are aware of privacy risks concerning the use of tablets and how they are managing them for their primary school-aged young children. At the same time, we must also reach out to the children themselves, who are on the frontline of these technologies, to learn how capable they are to recognise risks and how well they are supported by their parents to cope with these risks. Therefore, in the summer of 2017, we conducted face-to-face interviews with 12 families in Oxfordshire and an online survey with 250 parents. This report summarises our key findings of these two studies.

研究动机与目标

• 评估6至11岁儿童家长对与平板应用相关的在线隐私风险的理解程度。
• 调查家长在帮助儿童识别和管理这些风险方面所采取的支持措施及其程度。
• 识别家长在儿童移动应用中第一方和第三方公司隐性数据收集方面的知识盲区。
• 探讨家长自身是否需要支持，以更有效地保护儿童免受在线隐私威胁。

提出的方法

• 在牛津郡对12个家庭进行面对面访谈，以探究家长对儿童在线隐私风险的态度、行为及认知。
• 通过在线调查收集250名家长的定量数据，涵盖家长监控行为、隐私意识及责任感知。
• 聚焦于教育与娱乐场景下的平板使用，特别关注第一方和第三方实体通过应用收集的数据。
• 分析定性与定量数据，识别家长认知、防护行为及未满足的指导需求中的模式。
• 探讨儿童作为数字技术一线使用者的角色，及其识别隐私风险的能力。
• 识别在应对快速演变的数字技术及其隐私影响方面存在的系统性挑战。

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 6至11岁儿童的家长在多大程度上意识到儿童平板应用中的第三方数据收集行为？
• RQ2 家长目前如何支持儿童管理在线隐私风险？这种支持的有效性如何？
• RQ3 家长在儿童数字环境中的在线隐私风险方面，主要存在哪些知识盲区？
• RQ4 是否有任何机构或个人在支持家长理解并应对儿童在线隐私风险？
• RQ5 儿童自身在识别在线隐私风险方面的能力如何？其家长的指导是否充分？

主要发现

• 6至11岁儿童的家长通常认为儿童年龄过小，无法理解在线隐私风险，因此采取以限制或监控为主的保护策略，而非教育引导。
• 尽管家长积极实施监控与限制，但他们对儿童移动应用中第三方数据收集行为的认知仍十分有限。
• 大量家长并不知晓第一方和第三方公司会通过儿童使用的应用收集个人数据。
• 本研究发现，目前缺乏广泛存在的家长支持系统以提升其对在线隐私风险的认知，表明现有资源存在关键缺口。
• 儿童是平板和应用的活跃使用者，但家长在隐私风险方面的指导仍显不足，且多为被动反应式而非主动预防式。
• 亟需开发工具与教育资源，以支持家长更好地理解并应对儿童数字应用使用中的隐私风险。