Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne has announced the establishment of a Youth Advisory Council geared towards helping the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to protect young people’s privacy in the digital age.
Dufresne announced the council’s launch in his opening remarks at the “Youth Privacy in a Digital Age” symposium held on June 20. The council’s objective is to enable young people to share insights, experiences, and insights on what they consider to be critical privacy challenges.
The OPC has invited individuals aged 13-17 to apply as Youth Advisory Council members by July 31. Applicants should be passionate about technology, data protection, the digital world’s future, and helping their communities; they must also be comfortable sharing their thoughts with peers and adults.
“Children deserve to be children, even in the digital realm, free from deceptive practices and with the freedom to navigate online spaces securely. We want organizations to respect children’s privacy rights and to design services and products with strong protections for the personal information of children,” Dufresne said in a statement. “Young people must be part of the conversation to identify solutions to the issues that they are facing in their day-to-day lives.”
The privacy commissioner had highlighted advocating for children’s privacy rights as a strategic priority. He recently announced an exploratory consultation into the development of a children’s privacy code that would protect young people’s personal information online.
The “Youth Privacy in a Digital Age” symposium tackled data privacy from teenagers’ perspectives, artificial intelligence’s effects on young people, deceptive design, educational technologies, and the best interests of the child in the digital space. The event was attended by youth leaders in Canada as well as academics, senior government leaders, civil society representatives, industry stakeholders, and data protection authorities worldwide, including G7 Data Protection and Privacy Authorities Roundtable members.