The notion of "personal privacy" can be defined in several ways, we would like to explain it as simply as possible by saying that it basically consists of everything that makes us unique, for example: our family; our origins; our ethnic grouping; our religion; where we live, go to school or work; our state of health; our financial situation; our image; our opinions and our preferences, whatever these may be; our exchanges with others, etc.

These different elements and even others constitute our identity and should be protected. It is necessary to understand this properly, because it is the pillar of article 16 of the United Nations International Convention on the Rights of the Child.

What does article 16 say?

Children have the right not to be victims of arbitrary intrusions into their private lives, their family, their residence and their correspondence. This includes illegal attacks on their reputation.

This is an important article, because it specifies once again that a child is not a little person who should have ‘little rights’. With regard to the fundamental role parents should play to ensure the harmonious development of the abilities of the child (on this subject, see in particular article 18), the Convention therefore guarantees that all children in the world have the right to protection of their ‘personal privacy’.

So everything goes well? Unfortunately not!

Internet, a danger for the protection of personal privacy?

The answer is in the question! The internet today represents the main threat against the personal privacy of children (And of course adults), because they continuously put streams of information on line about themselves as well as their friends.

Due to the fact that social networks and search engines have been developed, their whole lives are therefore exposed. Photos, videos, addresses, preferences, opinions, etc. everything can be found out by anyone in any part of the world.

Not forgetting the information given by children as they register on several sites, which can send out their details without them realising that they are giving out a lot of private information...

What can the consequences be? Let us divide them into 2 categories : ‘Immediate’ and ‘Later’

Immediate

By freely sharing their lives on the Internet, giving the name of the place where they live, their school, their preferred cinema, their sports club, their friends, by detailing their tastes, etc., by exposing their pictures, they can endanger themselves because of perverse adults, paedophiles, who use this information to find their victims.

Before publishing any content, you should always remember that certain people with bad intentions can use it for criminal purposes.

Later

Because the details of your life which you give out when you are 12 or 15 years old may become cumbersome when you become an adult, you must never forget that the Internet never forgets! Contents are copied, recopied, duplicated and indexed by a multitude of sites and will never be deleted.

Worldwide legislation should therefore be established in order to guarantee that everyone has the right to ‘numerical deletion’. Each person should be able at any time to completely delete the information published by them on the Internet; the future will tell us if this indisputable right will continue to be no more than just a dream of the Defender of Human Rights.

Other threats to personal privacy...

There are many countries whose leaders do not highlight the protection of personal privacy among their ‘primary objectives’; this is where abuses are regularly committed and these countries are rarely democratic...

www.CyberDodo.org (or .com)

It is our strong desire to protect our visitors and our members, therefore our site does not collect any information about you, except for what is indispensable to guarantee your security (IP address in the event of unacceptable behaviour, email verified in order to be able to communicate, username and password chosen by you).

Note that we do not even ask you if you are a boy or a girl, you finally have the absolute guarantee that the information that we have about you will never be sold, transferred or given away; it is protected by us.

It is with this goal of security that alert messages appear regularly feature on the CyberDodo ‘CHAT’

Furthermore, the procedure for registration on www.CyberDodo.org (or .com) is adapted to the age of our visitors; minors should, for example, obtain the prior agreement of their parents or legal representatives.

Remember that on the Internet you can never be too cautious...

To see the cartoon on the respect for personal privacy, click here

To do the quiz, click here

For the games, click here

© CyberDodo Productions Ltd.