This article is authored by Pallav Arora, a student at West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. This article attempts to analyse the contemporary developments in policies pertaining to children’s privacy in India.

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the contemporary developments in the sphere of child privacy in India while comparing it with the International policy on the matter. It seeks to initiate a discourse on why it is vital to deal with children exclusively to ensure data privacy. The article initially examines the existent privacy protection regimes in various jurisdictions around the world,followed by the recently tabled Personal Data Protection Bill in India. It identifies pertinent issues concerning the bill, such as blanket age characterization, easy-to-circumvent mechanisms and the issue of universal parental consent. It thereafter analyses the effect of the aforementioned on the privacy protection mechanisms in the country. The article draws a parallel between the provisions of the Bill and those which are followed in other jurisdictions, such as the Child Online Privacy Protection Act in the United States and the General Data Protection Regulations in the European Union.A comparison is drawn between the two jurisprudential paradigms to derive the best practices prevalent in this field. It takes inspiration from the well-functioning systems of child privacy and discusses their application in the Indian context. Finally, recommendations to enhance the character of the Bill and surrounding discourses are made to further the scope of online protection for children in India.