Open AccessMedia Representation of Children’s Privacy in the Context of the Use of “Smart” Toys and Commercial Data Collection
Author(s) -
Tijana Milosevic,
Patrícia Dias,
Charles L. Mifsud,
Christine W. Trueltzsch-Wijnen
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
medijske studije
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.12
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1848-5030
pISSN - 1847-9758
DOI - 10.20901/ms.9.18.1
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , representation (politics) , data collection , internet privacy , business , advertising , political science , public relations , computer science , sociology , geography , politics , social science , law , archaeology
The growing use of “smart” toys has made it increasingly important to understand the various privacy implications of their use by children and families. The article is a case study of how the risks to young children’s privacy, posed by the commercial data collection of producers of “smart” toys, were represented in the media. Relying on a content analysis of media coverage in twelve European countries and Australia collected during the Christmas season of 2016/2017, and reporting on a follow-up study in selected countries during the Christmas season of 2017/2018, our article illustrates how the issue of children’s privacy risks was dealt with in a superficial manner, leaving relevant stakeholders without substantive information about the issue; and with minimum representation of children’s voices in the coverage itself.