BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Pending legislation aims to keep kids safe and protect their privacy online.
The Vermont Kids Code, a bill brought to the house and senate, mirrors initiatives taken by many other states in the country. It would ensure that companies are designed to keep children’s best interests in mind.
The bill would limit the collection of kids’ data, prohibit profiling kids, stop persuasive designs, and put all default settings on high privacy. It also says companies must mitigate foreseeable risks and ensure there aren’t features challenging kids’ well-being. The lawmakers say consumers wouldn’t notice a difference with these features added.
Bill sponsors Senator Kesha Ram-Hinsdale and Representative Monique Priestley say ideally, there would be federal regulation about the internet.
Samantha Rivera is a nanny for two kids and says they find a good balance between using websites like YouTube for education and entertainment, but also keeping track of what else pops up.
“There’s some things that pop up that look kid-friendly, and it ends up being very violent,” she said.
It’s tricky areas like this and targeted advertisements that make a lack of privacy online a concern for some.
Senator Kesha Ram-Hinsdale, who has co-sponsored the legislation, says that she would create effective regulation.
“We are accelerating into a very new digital reality. And in the past, when we were young, I think we essentially missed the window to regulate in a way that was effective,” Ram-Hinsdale said.
Lawmakers have noted that the UK has recently implemented similar laws. As a result, YouTube turned off autoplay, Google has SafeSearch on default for users under 18, and Instagram and TikTok both disabled messaging between children and adult strangers.
“These are companies and entities that know how to protect people if that’s requested,” said Ram-Hinsdale.
The internet and social media can impact kids both positively and negatively, according to child psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Schlozman.
“We do know from advertising, a little bit on the internet and more so in other forms of media, that this stuff reaches kids, that this stuff changes kids’ behavior,” Schlozman said.
He notes that historically and now, we have always been a step behind the technology we create because of how rapidly it changes.
“It’s very hard to keep kids off the internet. So we have to be wary of what laws we make, even if we’re putting the onus on the platform developers as opposed to the kids, it’s still very hard to enforce those laws,” he said.
While federal and state officials look to internet regulation, Schlozman says parents have to do the work with their children, discussing screen time and the responsibilities that go with having access to the internet.
“The Kids Code is actually really trying to preserve, it’s really cutting down the middle, saying let’s turn on failsafe rather than not having it on. You can still bypass them, but you’ve got to take a beat to think about it, taking a beat allows your frontal lobe and get involved. If your frontal lobe gets involved, then you’re not acting like an impulsive teenager anymore. You’re acting like a thoughtful teenager,” Scholzman said.
The legislation comes just after a lawsuit to sue Meta for intentionally designing addictive and harmful products. It was filed by Vermont’s attorney general as well as 40 other states.
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