A few years ago Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter Apple took to social media to gently berate her mother for posting an image (not this one) which included her: “You may not post anything without my consent”. I’ve no idea whether Apple has other fine qualities, but I admired her approach here.
I was reminded of it by the – also admirable – approach by the Prime Minister and his wife to their two children’s privacy. Remarkably, it appears that their names and photographs have so far been kept from publication. It’s doubtful that will be able to continue forever (in any case, the children are at or coming to an age where they can take their own decisions) but I like the marked contrast with how many senior politicians co-opt their children into their campaigning platform.
One of the concerns of the legislator, when GDPR was being drafted, was children’s rights: recital 65 specifically addresses the situation of where a child has consented to publication of their data online, but later wants it removed.
Although Gwyneth Paltrow’s publishing of her child’s image would likely have been out of the material scope of GDPR under Article 2(2)(a) (and quite possibly out of its territorial scope) the thrust of recital 38 should apply generally: “Children merit specific protection with regard to their personal data, as they may be less aware of the risks, consequences and safeguards concerned and their rights in relation to the processing of personal data”.
[Image licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0, creator not stated. Image altered to obscure children’s faces]
The views in this post (and indeed most posts on this blog) are my personal ones, and do not represent the views of any organisation I am involved with.
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