Sweden is ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to children’s rights, even in the digital/online world. Read more here.
To say I felt an excitement deep in me is an understatement. It was children’s safety online which brought me into privacy. My master thesis for my MSc Information Security was on protecting children online, which led to the publication of my first book “Virtual Shadows” in 2009. This was 8 months before the birth of my daughter.
But what triggered me, was long before this, was my son who was 18 by the time I had published my first book. I often had computers at home, normally open as I was twiddling with them, and so was he since he was 10 years old.
I saw his fascination in Sim City and other highly educational games which transported him into worlds of logistics and consequences. The theme of conversation amongst the boys was which level they are reached, e.g. how a famine had broken out, bad decisions on arming, etc. Gaming was not multi-player, it was single player, and installed on a PC in those days.
What Sweden has triggered is awesome. Beyond what any country has done when it comes to human rights, not surprising considering they were the first country globally to give equal rights to children in 1971. Now in 2020, it has reached the digital world.