Warnings over online protection

PARENTS should treat their children’s online privacy like stranger danger and road safety, a UK regulator has warned.

- PETER BYRNE/PRESS ASSOCIATION

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said new research shows three in four parents fear their child cannot make safe online privacy choices. A total of 35% of parents believe their child would “share personal information in exchange for game tokens or rewards’, according to an ICO survey of 1,000 UK parents with children aged four to 11 years in February.

The survey found that 22% of children have shared personal information such as health details with AI tools and 24% have shared their real name or address online, with eight and nine-year-olds most at risk.

The UK’s data protection regulator has launched a campaign to help parents of children aged four to 11 “start simple conversations about protecting their personal information online”.