Thank you, Chair Lightbound and members of the committee, for today's invitation.
I'm a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto's faculty of law, and a graduate fellow of the Schwartz Reisman Institute. I have more than a dozen peer-reviewed publications and numerous policy interventions on privacy and data protection law in Canada, the European Union and the United States.
I submitted a brief on children's issues in the consumer privacy protection act with my colleague, Leslie Regan Shade, who is a professor at the University of Toronto's faculty of information, a faculty affiliate of the Schwartz Reisman Institute. I am here today in my personal capacity.
Children's privacy in the digital environment is essential for their agency, dignity and safety. Indeed, data protection laws are one important piece of a response to mounting evidence that corporate surveillance and persuasive design are undermining children's agency and well-being. At the same time, though, digital technologies are vital for children's inclusion and participation in society. Members of the committee, you are in a special position to help ensure that the digital environment aligns with children's rights.
Before highlighting a few of the recommendations made in our submission, let me note that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has consistently recommended more robust and standardized mechanisms for meaningfully obtaining children's views on legal and policy matters affecting them. It is thus regrettable that there is no evidence of youth consultation for this important bill. I respectfully urge you to solicit their views.
Let me briefly discuss our recommendations.
First, several key definitions need to be clarified. These include a definition of a minor and a definition of capacity to determine when a minor is “capable” of exercising rights and recourse under the act. The act must also clarify the scope of and the relationship between parental and child decision-making. Additionally, more specification is needed with regard to what happens when minors reach the age of majority. Information about one's childhood should, furthermore, remain “sensitive information” even after one has attained the age of majority.
Second, the best interests of the child should be included as a fundamental principle in the act. Doing so would make the child's interests a primary concern in all aspects of the proposed legislation. For example, the best interests of children should matter in specifying the purposes of data collection, use and disclosure, as well as data retention.
Third, age and parental consent verification requirements and limitations are needed. Treating minors and adults differently makes verification for both age and parental consent an important part of compliance. Such verification, though, can be highly intrusive, unreliable and insecure. Verification also poses serious threats to the freedom of expression of all Internet users.
Fourth, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner should be mandated to develop a children's design code with meaningful participation from youth. Design codes are age-appropriate standards for youth-directed products to ensure the highest level of privacy by design. They also help ensure that youth-directed products do not undermine children's rights. Businesses also welcome the certainty that codes provide. Since codes only elaborate on general principles and obligations arising from the legislation, robust protections for privacy and agency must be in the law itself.
Finally, kindly recognize that providing robust protections for children should not be a justification for meagre protections for adults.
Before concluding, I want to respectfully remind the committee that the ongoing lack of high-speed Internet access among northern, rural, first nations, Inuit and Métis communities deprives children and adults alike in those communities of the same opportunities found elsewhere in Canada. The CPPA's promises and potential are illusory without equitable access to the Internet.
I appreciate your work on this important study, and I look forward to your questions.
Thank you.