Privacy as a New Component of “The Best Interests of the Child” in the New Digital Environment

Abstract

Legal regulations codifying the privacy rights of children in digital contexts, both at national and international levels, are fragmentary. Existing norms primarily address issues related to child safety as well as data processing, but not the protection of his/her dignity and reputation. At the same time, the Internet Communications and Technology-related (ict) activities of parents, who are traditionally considered to be the primary defenders of their children’s rights but presently are the main contributors to the public image of their child, may endanger child privacy. To address the threat that “sharenting” creates, the privacy of the child should be considered not only as a right, but also in “the best interests of the child”. This conceptualisation of rights as argued, would allow for a greater degree of privacy protection as it requires authorities to take it into consideration, ‘in all actions concerning children’, and will guarantee that they allocate to it the proper weight, while balancing it with the rights of others.