Video Conferencing for Kids: Safeguarding and Privacy Overview

Ever considered how your personal data is protected? How children's data is considered by the platforms? If there are minimum age requirements?

Here you’ll find information about the most popular video conference services.  We’ve collected and compiled some of the technical and policy details published by each of the services so you can more easily see which of these are the most suitable for you using the excellent work of Polisis.

This guide was last updated on 1st April 2020, If you find any information out of date please reach out to us.

Also read our guidance on Safe Remote Learning.

Contents

1. Safeguarding & Privacy Factsheet Downloads
2. Microsoft Teams / Skype
3. Google Meet / Hangout
4. Webex
5. GotToMeeting
6. Adobe Connect
7. Zoom
8. BlueJeans

Microsoft Teams / Skype

Part of Office365

£3.80 per month - Office 365 Business Essentials

£9.40 per month - Office 365 Business Premium

Summary Privacy Policy - powered by Polisis

Read the full summary on Polisis.

Personal data policy statements – for example adherence to GDPR / Privacy Shield

Microsoft adheres to the principles of the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks

https://www.microsoft.com/en-GB/microsoft-365/blog/2018/05/25/safeguard-individual-privacy-rights-under-gdpr-with-the-microsoft-intelligent-cloud/

How children’s data is managed (From Microsoft's Terms & Conditions)

1. Children and Advertising. We do not deliver interest-based advertising to children whose birthdate in their Microsoft account identifies them as under 16 years of age.
2. Collection of Data from Children Collection of Data from Children maincollectionofdatafromchildrenmodule
3. When a Microsoft product collects age, and there is an age in your jurisdiction under which parental consent or authorization is required to use the product, the product will either block users under that age or will ask them to provide consent or authorization from a parent or guardian before they can use it. We will not knowingly ask children under that age to provide more data than is necessary to provide the product.
4. Once parental consent or authorization is granted, the child's account is treated much like any other account. The child can access communication services, like Outlook and Skype, and can freely communicate and share data with other users of all ages.
5. Parents can change or revoke the consent choices previously made, and review, edit, or request the deletion of the personal data of children for whom they provided consent or authorization. For example, parents can access their personal Microsoft account (https://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/p/?LinkID=238657) and click on "Permissions." For users of Minecraft and other Mojang games, parents can contact us at account.mojang.com/terms#contact.
6. Microsoft Family. Parents can use Microsoft Family to understand and set boundaries on how their child is using their device. There are many features available to Family members, so please carefully review the information provided when you create or join a Family. When Family activity reporting is turned on for a child, Microsoft will collect details about how the child uses their device and provide parents with reports of that child's activities. Activity reports are routinely deleted from Microsoft servers after a short period of time.
7. Children and online safety. If you have children or teenagers who use Xbox Live, you can set up child and teen profiles for them. Children and teens under 18 cannot create a profile on Xbox Live without parental consent. Adults in the family can change consent choices and online safety settings for child and teen profiles on xbox.com.

Links

Terms - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/copyright/default.aspx

Privacy - https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement

Webex

Free personal plan - 40 min limit

£11.25 - small team starter

£14.85 per month - Plus plan

Summary Privacy Policy - powered by Polisis

Positive

• You can request access and deletion of personal data
• The policy provides opt-out choices.
• The policy offers you clear links to control your data
• Some data is anonymized or aggregated before sharing with third parties.
• The policy has a special section on respecting children's privacy

What to look out for

• Several types of personal information types can be collected.
• They may also collect information about: Your Internet Protocol (IP) address.
• Personal information may be shared with third parties for marketing/advertising reasons.
• We may share personal information in the following ways: With Cisco business partners or vendors, so that they may share information with you about their products or services.

Read the full summary on Polisis.

Personal data policy statements – for example adherence to GDPR / Privacy Shield

1. As Cisco is a global organization, we may transfer your personal information to Cisco in the United States of America, to any Cisco subsidiary worldwide, or to third parties and business partners as described above that are located in various countries around the world. By using our websites and Solutions or providing any personal information to us, where applicable law permits, you consent to the transfer, processing, and storage of such information outside of your country of residence where data protection standards may be different.
2. Cisco's global privacy program and policies have been approved by the Dutch, Polish, Spanish, and other relevant European privacy regulators as providing adequate safeguards for the protection of privacy, fundamental rights, and freedoms of individuals for transfers of personal information protected under European law. Cisco's Binding Corporate Rules – Controller (BCR-C) provide that transfers made by Cisco worldwide of European personal information benefit from adequate safeguards.

Minimum age: 13

Policy statements relating to children

You also agree not to:

• Attempt to collect, store, or publish personally identifiable information ... of a minor under the age of thirteen (13) in any circumstance.

Cisco encourages parents and guardians to take an active role in their children's online activities. Cisco does not knowingly collect personal information from children without appropriate parental or guardian consent.

Links

Terms - https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/legal/terms-conditions.html

Privacy - https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/legal/privacy-full.html

Adobe Connect

Pricing - £40 per month

Summary Privacy Policy - powered by Polisis

Positive

• The policy provides opt-out choices.
• The policy offers you clear links to control your data
• You can request access and deletion of personal data

What to look out for

Personal information may be shared with third parties for marketing/advertising reasons.

Summary of Key Points: There are several places within Adobe's websites and apps that allow you to post comments, upload pictures, or submit content which will be publicly available where you choose to participate in these activities. We also disclose personal information to other companies in the Adobe family and with advertising and sales partners consistent with your choices. We also share information with third parties we engage to process information on our behalf or when such sharing is required by law, or in certain other situations. Learn more (https://www.adobe.com/in/privacy/policy.html#websites-applications).

We will also share your personal information with companies that help us to run our business by processing personal information on behalf of Adobe for the purposes identified above. Such companies include providers of customer support services, payment processing services, fraud monitoring and prevention, email, social media, and other marketing platforms and service providers, and hosting services.

Read the full summary on Polisis.

Personal data policy statements – for example adherence to GDPR / Privacy Shield

1. If you reside outside of North America, your relationship is with Adobe Ireland. Adobe Ireland will transfer your personal information to some organizations which are located outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland, namely the US and India and other locations where we Adobe may have operations in the future.
2. Where Adobe Ireland transfers your personal information to a country which is not within the EEA and is not subject to an adequacy decision by the EU Commission, we rely on one or more of the following legal mechanisms: EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield, European Commission approved Standard Contractual Clauses, and your consent in certain circumstances. A copy of the relevant mechanism can be provided for your review upon request, using the contact details provided at the end of this Privacy Policy. For more information about the certification of Adobe U.S. to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, including the scope of our certification, please see Privacy Shield/European data transfers (https://www.adobe.com/in/privacy/eudatatransfers.html).

How children’s data is managed

No particular reference to management of childrens data

Links

Terms - https://www.adobe.com/uk/legal/terms.html

Privacy - https://www.adobe.com/uk/privacy/policy.html

Zoom

Free plan - limited to 40 mins

Pro - £11.99 per month

Summary Privacy Policy - powered by Polisis

Positive

• You can request access and deletion of personal data
• The policy provides opt-out choices
• The policy provides opt-in choices

What to look out for

Several types of personal information types can be collected.

1. Information commonly used to identify you, such as your name, user name, physical address, email address, phone numbers, and other similar identifiers.

2. Information about your job, such as your title and employer.

3. Credit/debit card or other payment information.

4. Facebook profile information (when you use facebook to log-in to our products or to create an account for our products.

5. General information about your product and service preferences.

6. Information about your device, network, and internet connection, such as your ip address(es), mac address, other device id (udid), device type, operating system type and version, and client version.

7. Information about your usage of or other interaction with our products ("usage information").

8. Other information you upload, provide, or create while using the service ("customer content"), as further detailed in the "customer content" section below.

Be aware of so called “Zoom bombing”.

Read the full summary on Polisis.

Personal data policy statements – for example adherence to GDPR / Privacy Shield

1. Our Products are generally hosted and operated in the United States ("U.S.") through Zoom and its service providers, though data may be collected from wherever our users are located.We may transfer your Personal Data to the U.S., to any Zoom affiliate worldwide, or to third parties acting on our behalf for the purposes of processing or storage.Where local law requires, we may store data locally in order to comply with global regulations.By using any of our Products or providing any Personal Data for any of the purposes stated above, you consent to the transfer and storage of your Personal Data, whether provided by you or obtained through a third party, to the U.S. as set forth herein, including the hosting of such Personal Data on U.S. servers.

2. Zoom is responsible for the processing of Personal Data it receives under the Privacy Shield Framework, and subsequently transfers to a third party acting as an agent on its behalf.Zoom complies with the Privacy Shield Principles for all onward transfers of Personal Data from the EU, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom including the onward transfer liability provisions.

Minimum Age

16 (unless Zoom for Education Subscriber)

ELIGIBILITY. You affirm that You are at least 16 years of age and are otherwise fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in this Agreement, and to abide by and comply with this Agreement. Your access may be terminated without warning if we believe that You are under the age of 16 or are otherwise ineligible.

INTENDED USE; RESTRICTION ON USE BY CHILDREN. The Services are intended for business use. You may choose to use the Services for other purposes, subject to the terms and limitations of this Agreement. Zoom is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 16, unless it is through a School Subscriber (as that term is defined in Exhibit A) using Zoom for Education (K-12). Individuals under the age of 16 may not create accounts or use the Services except as described herein.

Policy Statements Relating to Children

Although we cannot absolutely control whether minors gain unauthorized access to the Services, access may be terminated without warning if we believe that You are underage or otherwise ineligible

Links

Terms - https://zoom.us/terms

Privacy - https://zoom.us/privacy