Parental consent
When we ask children for personal information online, we also need to consider what degree of parental consent is appropriate. We can:
- simply prompt a child to ask for it, as the minimum
- require the use of a clickable box to confirm that it has been obtained before the child can proceed
- require verifiable parental consent e.g. a signed letter or personal telephone call from a parent or guardian.
Factors to consider:
- the age and maturity of the child. Will they understand what is going to happen to the information we want them to send?
- their expectations. Does our use accord with what they expect to happen?
- the sensitivity of the information
- the risks associated with sending it. What is the likelihood of any adverse effects for the child?
- the length of time we are storing it.
The information we request will have varying degrees of sensitivity and may require different levels of parental involvement. For example if we ask a child of 13 or under for a name and email address to enter a competition and the information is to be deleted after the winner has been declared, a prompt about parental consent should be enough. Where we want to collect and store a child's mobile phone number, verifiable parental consent may be necessary.
See Section 16: Law - Sites aimed at children, for more information about the Data Protection Act and children.