Session
Organizer 1: Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Organizer 2: Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Organizer 3: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Organizer 3: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 1: Kyung Sin Park, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 2: Mishi Choudhary, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 3: David Greene, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: David Sullivan, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Ana Maria Brian Nougreres, Intergovernmental Organization, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 2: Mishi Choudhary, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 3: David Greene, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: David Sullivan, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Ana Maria Brian Nougreres, Intergovernmental Organization, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Format
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: Child online safety is one of the strongest reasons for restricting online access or at least tracking online access. We expect a vibrant and sometimes heated discussion even among civil society organizations as some will be proposing the Oslo Statement on Age Gating and Human Rights 90 minutes and others will challenge its viability. The government/industry stakeholders will also play pivotal roles in that debate. It is best to have a roundtable where all participants, including non-speakers will have chances to engage on equal footing.
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: Child online safety is one of the strongest reasons for restricting online access or at least tracking online access. We expect a vibrant and sometimes heated discussion even among civil society organizations as some will be proposing the Oslo Statement on Age Gating and Human Rights 90 minutes and others will challenge its viability. The government/industry stakeholders will also play pivotal roles in that debate. It is best to have a roundtable where all participants, including non-speakers will have chances to engage on equal footing.
Policy Question(s)
What are the human rights implications of age gating mandates?
How are national and transnational policy makers approaching questions related to the “protection and care” of children when they are online?
What role can internet governance stakeholders play to protect all users’ fundamental human rights while affording protection and care to children?
What will participants gain from attending this session? Participants will take away an understanding of the human rights implications of age-gating mandates from a diverse global perspective. Participants will also gain an understanding of the challenges regulators face in ensuring that children can safely use online services.
Description:
Across the globe, policymakers are seeking to mandate that certain online services, speech, or features be off-limits to minors. These mandates, may, but not always do, require the implementation of age-estimation or verification technologies whereby everyone who seeks to access certain online content or services needs to prove that they are an adult. Such mandates often reflect states’ potentially conflicting duties to “undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being” and to protect minors’ rights to freedom of expression, association, access to information and privacy. However, unlike in-person interactions, the online age-gates typically require burdensome collection and storage of personal data, raising privacy, anonymity, and freedom of expression concerns for all people, adults and minors alike. Any such mandate, requiring age verification/estimation or not, need be vetted under international human rights law. This session will begin with the proposal for a Human Rights Statement on Age-Gating Mandates crafted by several civil society organizations from around the globe. The Statement will be followed by a multi-stakeholder discussion welcoming the stakeholders from all policy spaces so that the Statement will serve as a valuable marker in the current debates over online freedoms and harms.
Across the globe, policymakers are seeking to mandate that certain online services, speech, or features be off-limits to minors. These mandates, may, but not always do, require the implementation of age-estimation or verification technologies whereby everyone who seeks to access certain online content or services needs to prove that they are an adult. Such mandates often reflect states’ potentially conflicting duties to “undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being” and to protect minors’ rights to freedom of expression, association, access to information and privacy. However, unlike in-person interactions, the online age-gates typically require burdensome collection and storage of personal data, raising privacy, anonymity, and freedom of expression concerns for all people, adults and minors alike. Any such mandate, requiring age verification/estimation or not, need be vetted under international human rights law. This session will begin with the proposal for a Human Rights Statement on Age-Gating Mandates crafted by several civil society organizations from around the globe. The Statement will be followed by a multi-stakeholder discussion welcoming the stakeholders from all policy spaces so that the Statement will serve as a valuable marker in the current debates over online freedoms and harms.
Expected Outcomes
The outcome of the workshop will be the first public presentation of the Oslo Statement on Age Gating and Human Rights and an understanding of how the Statement can be used by human rights defenders and regulators in crafting digital use policies.
Hybrid Format: Facilitation between online and offline participants will be facilitated through the moderators of the session, who will ensure the equal involvement of both online and offline participants. As the workshop will include working on the proposed statements, drafting will happen asynchronously in a shared document online, which will allow both online and offline participants to participate in the workshop meaningfully.