by Tito de Morais

Since 2018, the dating of children has been an issue that has been debated internationally. With the pandemic, the identification of students and the themes of surveillance and student behavior management systems took on a new dimension. The international debate intensified, but Portugal passed it by. Will 2022 be the year in which the topic becomes a topic in Portugal?

Who Knows What About Me?In November 2018 an Ombudsperson for Children in England published the report “Who knows what about me?

”, where he warned of the fact that more data are currently being collected from children than ever before. While acknowledging the benefits that could result, he cautioned that we don’t know everything about how these children’s data can be used, today and in the future. The Ombudsman is concerned that the information collected today from a child could jeopardize their future. His report ended with a recommendation for the Government, Companies, Parents and Schools.

The Dating of Children The researchers call it expressing concern that an entire generation of children and young people have their data stored even before their birth. Parents publish photos of ultrasounds and births with information about names, dates of birth and other identifying data. The concern with the subject was also manifested in numerous articles in the international media dealing with the subject of the dating of children. In such a way that this was one of the chosen

by researcher Dr Jessica Baron, for her 7th Annual List of Emerging Ethical Dilemmas and Policy Issues in Science and Technology for 2019.

ePrivacy Swapped by Kids In the light of what I said above and in partnership with the Portuguese Chapter of the Internet Society, on January 28, 2020, Data Protection Day, we sought to raise awareness of this reality in the launch of the project ePrivacy Swapped by Kids

which unfortunately the outbreak of the pandemic came to an end.

Classroom Surveillance Another trend featured on Dr. Jessica Baron’s 8th List refers to behavior management systems of students and the potential negative psychological effects that the constant and constant vigilance of students in the classroom can have on them. On the other hand, a student surveillance it was also a trend identified for 2020. And at this level, we have seen several international initiatives emerge, namely in the United States with trends related to student privacy and in Brazil, with the projects of the Watched Education Observatory andThe School in the Digital World – Student Data and Rights

.

UNICEF ManifestoIt goes without saying that with the pandemic and the exponential growth of distance learning, concerns about all these issues have increased equally exponentially. Thus, it is not surprising that in last year’s survey, UNICEF takes a public stand by publishing the report “The Case for Better Child Data Governance: A Manifesto

”

Portugal, has completely ignored this debate. Until when? We’ll see…