This book explores the emergence of a safeguarding dystopia in child online protection. The text argues that a safeguarding dystopia results in docile children, rather than safe ones, and that we should stop seeing technology as the sole solution to online safeguarding.
Using the UK as a case study the book aims to provide a detailed rationale for the tension between a policy perspective that tries to provide protection for victims of such practices through legislation and the need to better understand a phenomenon that constantly evolves as a result of new technology, disruptive adoption and social norms.
Andy Phippen is a Professor of Social Responsibility in Information Technology at the University of Plymouth. He has specialised in the use of ICTs in social contexts for almost 20 years, carrying out a large amount of grassroots research on issues such as privacy and data protection, and internet safety and contemporary social concerns like sexting, peer abuse, and the impact of digital technology on wellbeing. He has presented written and oral evidence to parliamentary inquiries related to the use of ICTs in society, is widely published in the area, and is a frequent media commentator on these issues.
Maggie Brennan is a research psychologist, based at the School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork.
1. Doing More to Safeguarding Children Online; 2. The Role of Online Technology in Young People's Lives: Activities and Concerns; 3. Safeguarding Children by Prohibiting Access; 4. Further Progress in Technological Intervention: Knowing Everything, Always; 5. Algorithmic Approaches to Tackling Online Safeguarding; 6. Safety at the Expense of Liberty?