Hot Issue: Are systems that track young people an invasion ofprivacy?

YES - Terri Dowty, policy director, Action on Rights for Children

Children have exactly the same rights to privacy under the European Convention on Human Rights as any other person. If children want to give permission for information to be shared that is one thing, but if it is done without their consent it is a gross invasion of privacy.

While there is good reason to share information where a child is actually in danger, arbitrary tracking is unacceptable. It is also counterproductive, because a young person who realises that he or she is being tracked will simply not ask for the help they need. Tracking invades children's boundaries, and those are the very things that need strengthening if children are to protect themselves. We can't really say to a child that your life and your body belong to you and you can make the decisions if we're surreptitiously sharing information about them.