by Aimee Cartwright
The ICO’s recent findings on children’s privacy practices have provided businesses with a gold mine for improving their own practices – whether involving children or adults.
In this article, we will highlight how these findings may relate to your business, before giving recommendations for complying with privacy laws – particularly regarding professional Social Media Checks.
ICO Findings on Children’s Privacy
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has called on 11 social media and video sharing platforms to improve their children’s privacy practices, with Deputy Commissioner Emily Keaney stating “there is no excuse for online services likely to be accessed by children to have poor privacy practices.”
After reviewing the sign-up process of 34 social media platforms and video sharing platforms, the ICO concluded that 11 of these providers may not be conforming with their Children’s Code Strategy. The key concerns are linked to default geolocation, default privacy settings and age assurance.
Why Your Business Should Care
If your business isn’t affected by the ICO’s ongoing review, why should you care about their findings?
We are seeing countless examples of inappropriate data use in organisations across the world – this issue is not restricted to social media.
Recently, the ICO reported that a High School in Essex had been reprimanded for using facial recognition technology for canteen payments without carrying out a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was also sanctioned with a provisional fine of £750,000 for a spreadsheet error exposing the personal information of the entire workforce.
If your company is carrying out professional Social Media Checks, it is particularly vital that your policies are compliant to avoid such data breaches.
The principles of protecting children’s privacy translate to safeguarding employees’ privacy and data. If your company was to be reviewed by the ICO, can you be certain that you would pass with flying colours?
Complying With Privacy Laws: Recommendations for Employers
The ICO’s privacy-first approach is an excellent model for best practice in any industry, from healthcare to politics. Your business may want to consider adopting the relevant recommendations in the Children’s Code Strategy, such as:
- High privacy settings by default
- Informing employees of how to change their privacy settings
- Being transparent with employees about what they can expect when using systems
- Switching geolocation off by default
- Collecting and retaining only the minimum amount of personal data required
Organisations that have implemented Social Media Checks into their processes should ensure their policies are updated to comply with privacy laws and ethical standards.
Before using a professional Social Media Check company, investigate their attitude to privacy. A lenient stance could lead to data breaches.
How Does SP Index Handle Privacy?
As your data processor, we take our role seriously.
SP Index prides itself on being fully compliant with all data protection and equalities legislation, including UK GDPR, and is secure under ISO 27001.
When conducting Social Media Checks, our strategy is to identify patterns of risk online, using a combination of cloud and AI applications and human intelligence to investigate the context surrounding online behaviours. We do not take information out of context, ask for social media usernames, access private information, or report on protected characteristics.
In line with the ICO’s guidance, we only collect the minimum amount of personal data required, and this is retained for a maximum of 60 days before being anonymised or deleted.
Conclusion
Adopting a privacy-first approach is beneficial for all stakeholders of your business. Take the time to review and update your policies to reduce your organisation’s vulnerability to data protection issues.
If you are considering implementing compliant Social Media Checks, carefully select the right provider for you by exploring their stance on privacy and checking that their research is both objective and compliant.
Contact Us
Telephone: 0800 468 1688
Email: info@sp-index.com
Join us on LinkedIn here to stay updated with the latest insights, trends, and exclusive content.
