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arXiv · 2111.14596

"Money makes the world go around'': Identifying Barriers to Better Privacy in Children's Apps From Developers' Perspectives

Anirudh Ekambaranathan·Jun Zhao·Max Van Kleek
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Abstract

The industry for children's apps is thriving at the cost of children's privacy: these apps routinely disclose children's data to multiple data trackers and ad networks. As children spend increasing time online, such exposure accumulates to long-term privacy risks. In this paper, we used a mixed-methods approach to investigate why this is happening and how developers might change their practices. We base our analysis against 5 leading data protection frameworks that set out requirements and recommendations for data collection in children's apps. To understand developers' perspectives and constraints, we conducted 134 surveys and 20 semi-structured interviews with popular Android children's app developers. Our analysis revealed that developers largely respect children's best interests; however, they have to make compromises due to limited monetisation options, perceived harmlessness of certain third-party libraries, and lack of availability of design guidelines. We identified concrete approaches and directions for future research to help overcome these barriers.

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Anirudh Ekambaranathan, Jun Zhao, Max Van Kleek. 2021-11-29. "Money makes the world go around'': Identifying Barriers to Better Privacy in Children's Apps From Developers' Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445599

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