Kids of all ages being increasingly watched

New technologies including mobile phones, online monitoring and tracking devices are reshaping what it means to be a child in modern society. Children of all ages around the world including in Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia are increasingly under surveillance online, in schools and when they're out and about, according to a new book. Surveillance Futures , co-edited by Dr Emmeline Taylor from The Australian National University (ANU), finds children navigate a network of surveillance devices that aim to track their thoughts, movements and actions. "New technologies including mobile phones, online monitoring and tracking devices are reshaping what it means to be a child in modern society," said Dr Taylor, a researcher at the ANU School of Sociology who edited the book with Dr Tonya Rooney from the Australian Catholic University. Surveillance Futures found children's progress, from birth to their teenage years, was being increasingly documented on social media. "A survey of parents in 10 countries revealed that more than 80 per cent of parents with social media profiles had shared images of their children under two years old," Dr Taylor said. "The images are stored in perpetuity, which is not only a potential source of embarrassment for these kids in the future but, more importantly, is compromising their right to be forgotten." Last month, media outlets globally reported that an Austrian teenager had sued her parents for violating her privacy by posting photographs of her as a baby on Facebook.