How to protect your child’s privacy online

CHARLOTTE — Our personal information is being collected daily on every device we own or use. And it’s not just your information that companies are collecting; your children’s information is also being tracked.

Consumer advisor Clark Howard is offering some tips on what you can do right now to protect your child’s privacy.

Dolls that allow strangers to listen, criminals that gain access to your kids through video games, companies using microphones, and even keystrokes on your child’s device to collect personal data.

Haley Viente said she is pretty strict when it comes to what her son, Blake Maiden, can do with his devices.

“I’ll see my friends doing things, and I won’t be allowed to do them, so it’s kind of frustrating sometimes,” Maiden expressed.

When asked what apps Maiden may have that are invading his privacy, Viente responded, “Okay, so he has one, two, three, four, five, five apps that are listening to him.”

The mother-son duo then looked up the privacy policy for one of those apps to see just how much of Maiden’s information was being used.

Security researcher Willis McDonald said it’s on you as the parent to search these policies for answers.

However, even though they’re saying they’re not doing one thing with your information, in a whole separate section, it basically negates that,” McDonald explained.

The Federal Trade Commission proposed changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act that would take direct aim at companies that are using children’s data for advertising.

Those restrictions would include requiring a separate opt-in for targeted advertising limits to nudge kids to stay online.

Luckily, there are ways you can protect your child now. Besides turning off location services and microphones on devices and computers, parents also need to look for input accessibility and screen recording.

“Screen recording actually allows somebody to watch what your child is doing. Uh, accessibility and input monitoring actually have the ability or give the ability for someone to monitor keystrokes. So what your child is typing in,” McDonald said.

As a parent, all of this can seem overwhelming, but protecting your and your children’s privacy is worth the effort.

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