Family-Friendly Single Sign-On

The internet can be a dangerous place. Even some websites created for use by children are not entirely transparent on where its user data goes or how it is used. Many parents would forgo their children logging onto your website on the chance that their child’s safety could be compromised. A single sign-on (SSO) can ensure a family-friendly web experience and put a lot of parents at ease when their children log in to a website.

Why Choose SSO in the First Place?

SSO is a one-click sign-on authentication method which allows children to log in to sites without needing to remember usernames and passwords. As such, this reduces the risk of children revealing personal information at login or having their personal information stolen in the case of a data breach. This will increase traffic to websites aimed towards children by making the login process not only easier but safer.

Data on Children’s Internet Usage

Almost every child in the United States has access to the internet in their home, either through a computer or smartphone. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) revealed that in 2019, 95% of children could browse the world wide web. Developers with family-friendly websites should implement family-friendly ways of accessing their content.

Of the 6% of households without internet access for children aged 3 to 18, the main two reasons cited were the internet not being available in the area or access to online material was too expensive. Privacy and security was also cited as a reason for excluding internet access in the home.

A poll conducted by the Pew Research center asking about how parents feel about their children’s computer usage found that 75% of parents with children aged 5 to 11 monitored the sites and apps their children used with 72% of these parents using parental controls.

The majority of children are using the internet and parents are looking for ways to make this experience the best for their children and their families. This should make developers want to implement family-friendly SSO’s to put families at ease, and in turn increase traffic to their sites

Protection for Children Online

There are laws and regulations to protect the privacy of families online around the globe. The only one specifically created for children is the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) which went into effect on April 21, 2000.

COPPA is a privacy policy in which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces regulations to protect online privacy for children under the age of 13. COPPA specifically outlines how websites should handle personal information gathered from underage users. In addition, COPPA acts as a legal and financial consequence to websites that misuse personal data gathered from children. Family-friendly SSO’s both adhere to COPPA compliance and are a crucial step in keeping everyone’s data in the family safe, specifically children.

Specific Family-Friendly SSO’s

There are SSO’s that are specifically designed for families.

PRIVO is made specifically for educators, parents, and their students. Their process allows parents and educators to have their identity authenticated, and then PRIVO gives parents and educators the authority to consent to the child’s access to the site. This method allows the adults to manage what content and sites the kids are given access to, but are only sites the PRIVO network verifies. This enhances security but limits users to sites that use PRIVO.

Clever is another family-friendly SSO. Clever focuses on education and on protecting student data. On top of using SSO they create portals for teachers and parents to monitor usage and provide access to a myriad of educational apps from companies such as McGraw Hill and College Board.

One of the most ideal family-friendly SSO options would be humanID.

How humanID Helps Protect Families

Young and old, humanID provides tantamount security and anonymity online. humanID creates a unique and anonymous identifier after signing up with a phone number. This identifier is known as a hash, and is non-traceable back to the user behind it. In the case of a breach, no user data is stored within humanID’s system except for these hashes, making for truly non-trackable browsing. humanID allows a member of any family to feel safe and secure while logging onto websites.

humanID’s only limit is the sites that implement their technology, so the more sites that implement humanID, the more family-friendly websites there will be to access. With more parents and their children logging on now more than ever, developers should implement a family-friendly SSO like humanID as soon as possible.