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Lawyer Rewrites Instagram's Privacy Policy So Kids and Parents Can Have a Meaningful Talk About Privacy (qz.com)

Posted by msmash on from the simplifying-things dept.

Kids, of age between 12 and 15, are increasingly joining Facebook's Instagram service, but according to a research, they likely don't even understand what they are signing up for. Jenny Afia, a privacy law expert at Schillings, a UK-based law firm, rewrote Instagram's terms of service in child-friendly language, so that not only the kids but their parents are able to understand what things are at stake. Highlighted are the changes the lawyer has made: Officially you own any original pictures and videos you post, but we are allowed to use them, and we can let others use them as well, anywhere around the world. Other people might pay us to use them and we will not pay you for that. [...] We may keep, use and share your personal information with companies connected with Instagram. This information includes your name, email address, school, where you live, pictures, phone number, your likes and dislikes, where you go, who your friends are, how often you use Instagram, and any other personal information we find such as your birthday or who you are chatting with, including in private messages (DMs). [...] We might send you adverts connected to your interests which we are monitoring. You cannot stop us doing this and it will not always be obvious that it is an advert.

7 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Irony by MobyDisk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Slashdot's front page has:
    1. Lawyer Rewrites Instagram's Privacy Policy So Kids and Parents Can Have a Meaningful Talk About Privacy
    2. IMDb Ignores New Law Banning It From Publishing Actors' Ages Online, Cites Free Speech Violations

    So it is legal for to sell a child's personal information, but not okay for IMDB to publish the ages of grown adults. Does anyone else see this as crazy?

    1. Re:Irony by bsolar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You are comparing apples with oranges. IMDB claims it has right to publish the age without the actor's permission, Instagram claims it has right to sell your informations if you agree to use their services, thus granting them permission to do so.

    2. Re:Irony by Anubis+IV · · Score: 5, Informative

      You do realize that the summary makes it pretty clear it's a UK lawyer rewriting what are presumably their terms of service, right?

      The US shares plenty of responsibility when it comes to weird laws and terms of service, but the law affecting IMDB is a California one (which is its own brand of nuts) rather than a national law, and the Instagram terms of service are bad worldwide, not just in the US. If what you got out of those two headlines is that this is a US problem, you may be correct technically, in that the US suffers from them as well, but you've missed the bigger picture: this is a global problem that needs addressing through both cultural and legal changes.

    3. Re:Irony by sg_oneill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Instagram claims it has right to sell your informations if you agree to use their services, thus granting them permission to do so.

      This is of course assuming a child is competent to enter into a contract, which is not considered a valid assumption in most countries. (I have no idea about the US, but here, judges somewhat frown upon the idea that a child can forfeit rights because of an agreement as they are not considered competent to understand the implications.)

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
  2. I already simplify it for my kids by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 5, Informative

    1) Anything you post online will be there forever
    2) Always lie about your age, use a fake name, and never provide a real address
    3) Don't post nude pics
    4) Don't post anything racist, etc.
    5) Don't post anything illegal, etc.
    6) At any time, I can haz your phone/computer/account and I may burn your devices and your online profiles down to the waterline if I don't like what I see

  3. Re:Headline... Headache by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I think we need to legislate that ALL legal TOS and the like be written in this type of CLEAR and concise and easily understandable verbiage.

    There's no excuse for the common man to be held to agreements signed that no one but a lawyer can understand.

    If the general public is to be held to these agreements, they must be required to be written in terms that at least a 15 year old can understand.

    I know, I know, that's STILL above the heads of the average person by a long shot, but at least it is shooting at a reasonable level for public acceptance.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  4. What is this about ''for kids'' ? by Alain+Williams · · Score: 4, Informative

    Something like this is needed for every site for adults, most of who cannot be bothered to read any ToS and would not understand them if they did. Hell: I suspect a lot of adults would still not remember much about a ToS written like this even if you could persuade them to read it.

    This written by someone who does read ToS and frequently refuses to use a service as a result.