On Sept. 23, 2013, California Governor Jerry Brown signed State Bill 568 into law, otherwise called, “Privacy Rights for California Minors in the Digital World.” The goal of the new law is to protect the online privacy of children and teenagers who are under 18 years of age and reside in the state of California.
Since the creation of the internet, privacy seems to be losing its value. Youth appear to be increasingly comfortable with sharing private information and pictures online. Because of this relaxed attitude, modern teenagers post things online that they may later regret. “People target each other in statuses and they can’t take it back,” says sophomore Marly Miller. Starting Jan. 1, some of these problems will be solved; minors will be able to erase any of their posts on any internet site or phone application.
The bill allows teens who have potentially embarrassing or questionable posts online to remove these posts. The other major facet of the bill is that it will keep teens from being targeted with advertisements for harmful products that are illegal for them to use, such as tobacco products, weapons, and alcohol.
California Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg authored the law. Steinberg’s law will give teens the ability to start from a clean slate. “I think it’s great that people will be able to delete what they post. If something bad happens, you want to be able to delete it,” says Miller. “I don’t think this law will affect much because there’s a lot of sites that let you delete things already.”
“[This law is] definitely a good idea. Teenagers are often rash. They try to get attention and don’t think while they post,” says freshman Casey Hull.
Sophomore Brian Parsons says,” [This law] has its pros and cons. Some people will be able to take down things that they really regret but others will feel like they have the freedom to post whatever they want because they can take it down.” Parsons has been photographed holding an inappropriately shaped child’s toy and wished that he could take the picture off the internet.
As a result of this law, teenagers might get a false sense of security on the internet. Sophomore Janet Liu says, “It’s like an expo marker versus a sharpie. I’d rather write on a white board with an Expo Marker than a Sharpie so that I can erase what I write. Teenagers will be more liberal and free about what they post.”
This law is supposed to prevent bullying. Sophomore Caroline Mameesh disagrees, “Harmful things will be removed. Bullies will be able to erase them without a trace.” In fact she thinks that there could be more bullying because of this law.
“It allows more safety and privacy and they [teenagers] don’t have anything that they could be bullied for. [Bullies] wouldn’t be able to find private messages and you can delete anything you’re embarrassed of,” says junior Minori Ueyama.
