At the 2024 Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the joint session hosted by the Dynamic Coalition on Child Rights in the Digital Environment (DC-CRIDE) and the Dynamic Coalition on the Internet of Things (DC-IoT) focused on creating a better, safer, and more age-aware IoT ecosystem. The session, “Age-aware IoT: Better IoT”, highlighted critical steps and action points to ensure children’s rights are respected within the expanding Internet of Things (IoT) landscape.

Key takeaways for a better IoT ecosystem

• Global understanding of good practice: The need for a global understanding of good practices for IoT was underlined, emphasising the importance of harmonising global and industry standards with regional and national legislation. This approach ensures a more consistent and comprehensive protection framework for children globally, driven by shared insights and experiences.
• Capacity development for all stakeholders: The session stressed the importance of building capacity for all stakeholders, including policymakers, industry leaders, educators, and children. This capacity development should focus on three key elements:
  • Awareness: Understanding the implications of IoT for children.
  • Expression: Enabling children and adults to articulate concerns and expectations around IoT safety and privacy.
  • Action: Empowering stakeholders to implement effective and protective measures for children in the IoT space.
• Accountability is key: One of the recurring themes was accountability. Clear accountability mechanisms are needed to define who is accountable for ensuring children's rights within IoT systems. This accountability spans governments, tech companies, and other service providers, ensuring that children's safety and rights are prioritised throughout the design, deployment, and use of IoT technologies.

Action points for governments and industry

• Government involvement: Governments need to actively participate in developing, promoting, and enforcing good practice standards for age-aware IoT. This includes integrating child rights impact assessments into IoT policies to ensure children’s rights are protected by design.
• Identify and share good practices globally: The session called for identifying good practice examples and approaches from different regions. These can include innovative solutions like privacy-preserving age verification methods. By learning from these examples, stakeholders can collaboratively build stronger frameworks for children’s rights in IoT.
• Cross-sector collaboration: Effective strategies require collaboration between governments, industry, academia, and civil society. A multi-stakeholder approach ensures that policies and standards are comprehensive, practical, and enforceable.

Roundtable discussion during session

Building a safer IoT future for children

The insights from IGF 2024 emphasise that protecting children in IoT environments is a shared global responsibility. By fostering awareness, defining clear accountability, and developing robust standards, we can create an IoT landscape that respects and promotes children’s rights. These collaborative efforts are essential to ensure that children can benefit from IoT technologies safely and confidently.

The session also provided an opportunity to spotlight age-assurance efforts under the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) initiative such as the mapping of age assurance typologies and requirements which provides a comprehensive overview of the different approaches to age assurance and the associated legal, ethical and technical considerations. As well as the Age assurance toolkit including age assurance explainers that help to raise awareness in educational and family settings to foster awareness on the subject and strength digital literacy.  

Moreover, this is complemented by further work the European Commission is doing on age verification, working together with the EU Member States in developing a European approach to age verification also in respect the EU digital identity wallet that is foreseen to be offered in the EU as of 2026.  

Speakers of joint DC-CRIDE and DC-IoT 

For more details about the event and ongoing initiatives, visit the Better Internet for Kids portal or explore the IGF 2024 schedule.