During today’s press conference, Head of the Personal Data Protection Agency of the Ministry of Justice of Armenia Gevorg Hayrapetyan declared that parents decide whether their children’s data should be posted online or not.

Talking about several cases when calls to help children with illnesses and photos of and data about children are posted on social networks, Hayrapetyan stated that parents give consent to the release of data about their children. “Charitable organizations often address the Personal Data Protection Agency for consulting. If the Agency records that there are data through which a child can be identified later, it can interfere in the process. For the time being, people follow the Agency’s advice and collaborate. Personal data themselves aren’t considered a secret. The problem is the extent to which the release of those data will help the particular child. From this perspective, the release of personal data is very questionable,” Hayrapetyan said.