The Municipal Secretariat of Integrity and Transparency of the City of Rio promoted, on Friday (8/7), during Rio Innovation Week, the panel “Protection of Children and Adolescents in the Digital Environment: What to do after the Digital ECA?”, bringing together experts to discuss the challenges of implementing the new legislation and strengthening the protection of children and adolescents in the digital environment.
The debate included the Minister of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Estela Aranha, who contributed to the formulation of the proposal that originated the Digital ECA (Law No. 15.211/2025), the Municipal Secretary of Integrity and Transparency, Rodrigo Corrêa, the professor from ESPM and IDP-SP, Bruno Bioni, and the Municipal Data Protection Coordinator, Ana Paula Vasconcelos.
The panel discussed the perspective that digital applications should already be "born secure" (security by default). This means that functions such as direct contact between strangers and minors or tools that encourage addiction to cell phone use should be automatically disabled. To prevent age verification from resulting in the excessive collection of sensitive data, the ECA Digital (Brazilian Statute for Children and Adolescents) establishes that tools that respect data minimization should be prioritized. The goal is for verification to evolve into systems that only confirm whether the young person is of the permitted age, ensuring security without needing to store extra data or monitor their every step on the internet.
Another important point of the debate was the role of schools and the government. Educational institutions must exercise extra care when choosing educational applications, ensuring that student data, such as grades and attendance, are used only for learning. This information cannot be used to create consumer profiles or sell advertisements to children and adolescents. If an algorithm starts suggesting dangerous content, such as hate speech or violence, the responsibility now lies with the company that created the system, which must correct the flaws in the "architecture" of its product.
Finally, experts highlighted that the use of Artificial Intelligence by the government also needs clear rules.
"If an automated system is used to decide on a benefit or service, the citizen has the right to understand how that decision was made. There should always be a human verifying the machine's work to avoid errors or biases, ensuring that technology helps everyone in a fair and ethical way," highlighted Secretary Rodrigo Corrêa.
