GDPR4CHLDRN –
Ensuring data protection in hobbies

Privacy is a fundamental right. Children, young people and their parents must be able to feel secure that their personal data in hobby activities is being processed according to law.

Information about the site

The website has been developed in the GDPR4CHLDRN – Ensuring data protection in hobbies project (2022–2024) implemented by the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman and TIEKE Finnish Information Society Development Centre. The project is funded by the European Union’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme.

The site contains material that provide information on data protection legislation and the protection of personal data, especially for children and young people aged 13–17, their parents, and associations that organise hobby activities.

The project has produced informational material on data protection and universal data protection rights for children and young people in an understandable form. The site gives children instructions for exercising their data protection rights, such as how to ask a hobby association to erase their personal data. The materials provide the parents of children and adolescents with information on the requirements for processing their children’s personal data in hobby activities. If parents understand the subject themselves, they can give their children guidance in protecting their personal data.

A more extensive guide has been produced for associations to support them in applying and following data protection legislation. The guide contains many examples about everyday hobby situations, as well as info boxes that provide easy-to-understand information on the subject. The guide also provides specific guidance for coaches and instructors. The site features quizzes that the various target groups can use to test their knowledge, along with visual icons that illustrate data protection concepts. The tools and materials produced by the project are available on the site in Finnish, Swedish and English. Key content will also be translated into Russian, Estonian, Somali and Arabic.

During the GDPR4CHLDRN project, workshops for collecting feedback on the developed materials and identifying topics on which more guidance is needed were organised. The materials were also piloted with hobby organisers before publication. The project’s stakeholders were the Football Association of Finland and the Guides and Scouts of Finland, which provided support in matters such as reaching clubs and associations.