'No Telling Passcodes Out Because They're Private'

Abstract

Children under age 12 increasingly use Internet-connected devices to go online. And while Internet use exposes people to privacy and security risks, few studies examine how these children perceive and address such concerns. To fill this gap, we conducted a qualitative study of 18 U.S. families with children ages 5-11. We found that children recognized certain privacy and security components from the contextual integrity framework, but children ages 5-7 had gaps in their knowledge. Children developed some strategies to manage concerns but largely relied on parents for support. Parents primarily used passive strategies to mediate children's device use and largely deferred teaching children about these concerns to the future. We argue that helping children develop strong privacy and security practices at a young age will prepare them to manage their privacy and security as adolescents and adults. We offer recommendations to scaffold children's learning on privacy and security.

Age-appropriate password “best practice” ontologies for early educators and parents

“…Many of the younger children needed help creating passwords, which highlights the need for the role of responsible adults to be included within the ontologies. This is confirmed by Kumar et al [18]. Relatively few of Choong et al's child participants (12.5%) admitted writing down their passwords while 54% of Ratakonda et al's [10] Lamichhane and Read [23] used an Android game to study password and username creation with young children, aged 7 and 8.…”

“…Some notable studies have indeed focused on children's password behaviours and mental models of passwords. Most academic studies of under 18's understanding of cyber principles have focused on teenagers [18,19] yet some have indeed focused on younger children.…”

Leveraging funds of knowledge to manage privacy practices in families

“…This study extends the concept of funds of knowledge to privacy and explores how it can be used to enhance families' privacy practices. Researchers are investigating how children and families navigate and manage privacy and what challenges they face (Kumar et al, ); however, research on how and from where they develop privacy knowledge is still lacking. This study fills that void by illuminating the privacy funds of knowledge that inform families' privacy practices.…”

“…And as digital technologies have embedded into families' everyday lives, extensive research has explored how children and families navigate online risks (e.g., Livingstone, Haddon, & Görzig, ). Parents of teenagers tend to more actively help their children navigate online privacy concerns (Wisniewski, Jia, Xu, Rosson, & Carroll, ), while parents of younger children may believe their children do not need such guidance until they are older (Kumar et al, ). Indeed, parents of younger children may be missing an opportunity to meet children in their ZPD and scaffold their development of online privacy management skills (Kumar et al, ).…”

“…Parents of teenagers tend to more actively help their children navigate online privacy concerns (Wisniewski, Jia, Xu, Rosson, & Carroll, ), while parents of younger children may believe their children do not need such guidance until they are older (Kumar et al, ). Indeed, parents of younger children may be missing an opportunity to meet children in their ZPD and scaffold their development of online privacy management skills (Kumar et al, ). In addition to the home, schools and libraries are well‐positioned to help children (and adults) develop privacy knowledge and skills (Agosto & Abbas, ; Givens, ; Kumar, Chetty, Clegg, & Vitak, ; Wissinger, ).…”