Sharenting and Children’s Privacy Protection in International, EU, and Czech Law

Abstract

The digitalization of social relations has brought some new and hitherto unknown phenomena. Real life has been extended, into the world of cyberspace. This world is often referred to as the virtual world, but in reality, by its consequences for our lives and the legal sphere, it is no less real than the physical world. A significant part of family life has been affected by this phenomenon. Photos, videos and other information that used to be available only to immediate family members are now shared publicly on the internet through social networks. Young children are particularly affected, with parents publicly sharing information from their private lives. This practice is referred to as sharenting. As a result of sharenting, children in the Internet environment often effectively lose their status as subjects and become mere objects. This object is then handled by the child’s closest relatives – parents, i.e. the people who should naturally look after and defend the child’s best interests. The problem is that parents are not aware of both the legal framework and the possible factual negative consequences that sharenting can have for a child’s life and childhood. The key question that I seek to answer in this article is to what extent the current legal framework can respond to sharenting. The aim is also to assess to what extent is such sharing information about children legal and where the boundaries of permissible or justifiable disclosure of information about a child on the Internet lie. Finally, the question is also how the child affected by sharing can defend him/herself against its negative consequences. Sharenting is addressed by the EU, international and national law. As far as national law is concerned, in my article I focus primarily on Czech civil and family law. Sharenting concerns the protection of privacy as a fundamental human right, but also freedom of expression, which is why the European Convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (international dimension), the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU dimension) and the Czech Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (national constitutional dimension) are explored as well.