Although the subject of children's rights and the sociology of childhood and child sexual abuse has been the subject of extensive scholarly deliberation and commentary, there has been very little consideration of the way networks and digital information create a trust deficit, which consequently implicates all non-State actors and civil society. There is a need to understand the dynamics of the multi-stakeholder Internet governance model and the challenges Web 2.0 technologies pose for child protection policy-making. This book fills the lacuna. "Online Child Safety: Law, Technology and Governance "directs its focus on the governance challenges raised by the problems of ascertaining the integrity, authenticity and reliability of information flows and network infrastructures for our attitudes towards risks facing children and strategies for enhancing their safety in the online environment. It also seeks to understand the nature of convergence and articulates the significance of emerging regulatory trends in the way compliance with child safety norms are defined, communicated and enforced.

During the last decade in particular the levels of critical engagement with the challenges posed for privacy by the new technologies have been on the rise. Many scholars have continued to explore the big themes in a manner which typifies the complex interplay between privacy, identity, security and surveillance. This level of engagement is both welcome and timely, particularly in a climate of growing public mistrust of State surveillance activities and business predisposition to monetize information relating to the online activities of users. This volume is informed by the range of discussions currently conducted at scholarly and policy levels. The essays illustrate the value of viewing privacy concerns not only in terms of the means by which information is communicated but also in terms of the political processes that are inevitably engaged and the institutional, regulatory and cultural contexts within which meanings regarding identity and security are constituted.

This work explores the growing convergence between youth culture and digital communication technologies and the corresponding challenges posed to policymakers, examining the current governance debate on online child safety.