On the conformance of Android applications with children's data
protection regulations and safeguarding guidelines
- URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.08492v2
- Date: Wed, 17 May 2023 15:36:58 GMT
- Title: On the conformance of Android applications with children's data
protection regulations and safeguarding guidelines
- Authors: Ricardo Lopes and Vinh Thong Ta and Ioannis Korkontzelos
- Abstract summary: Even apps designed for children do not always comply with legislation or guidance.
This lack of compliance could contribute creating a path to causing physical or mental harm.
- Score: 3.8029070240258687
- License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
- Abstract: With the rapid development of online technologies and the widespread usage of
mobile phones among children, it is crucial to protect their online safety.
Some studies reported that online abuse and incidents negatively affect
children's mental health and development. In this paper, we examine how Android
applications follow the rules related to children's data protection in the EU
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK and EU children's online
safeguarding guidelines. Our findings show that the number of non-compliant
apps is still significant. Even the apps designed for children do not always
comply with legislation or guidance. This lack of compliance could contribute
to creating a path to causing physical or mental harm to children. We then
discuss the relevance of automating the compliance verification and online
safety risk assessment, including open questions, challenges, possible
approaches, and directions.
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