When planning a holiday abroad, many of us focus on packing suitcases and booking tickets, often forgetting to adjust our mobile devices to the new environment. Properly preparing phones and tablets not only enables the use of telecommunication services, but also protects our personal data.
First and foremost, it's worth updating your roaming settings. Under "Roam like at home", in the 27 EU countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine and Moldova you pay for calls, texts and data as you do at home – subject to fair use rules (Source: European Commission). It does not cover the United Kingdom or satellite networks on boats and planes, which can be very expensive – consider turning off data roaming on your child's phone for a cruise or flight. If travelling outside the EU, it is advisable to check with your operator what charges apply in the destination countries to avoid surprising bills. Also remind your child that across the EU the emergency number is 112.
Be careful with public Wi-Fi in hotels and airports. The Polish Data Protection Authority (UODO) advises against logging in to important services over public, unsecured Wi-Fi and recommends using an encrypted VPN connection (Source: UODO, "Good practices for keeping data safe during online lessons", in Polish). Teach your child not to log in to accounts or enter passwords on such networks.
The next step is to reconsider the location settings of devices. It's worth considering which apps actually require access to your location and disabling those that are not necessary. This protects privacy. You can change app access to location in the settings on Android and iPhone – keep it for apps that really need it, such as the family location app you use while travelling. How to use it without constant checking, we describe in safe holidays, and how to prepare for a dead phone in the child's phone died in town.
Travelling also means that outside the European Union the GDPR does not apply, and data protection rules may vary depending on the country. Keep this in mind before your child creates an account in a local app or gives out personal data.
If you need help with matters related to data protection abroad, it is advisable to consult an expert or a privacy protection institution, in Poland – the Personal Data Protection Office (UODO).
Sources
- European Commission, "Roaming: connected anywhere in the EU at no extra charge" – scope of Roam like at home, exclusions (UK, satellite networks on boats and planes), fair use
- UODO, "Good practices for keeping data safe during online lessons" (in Polish) – public Wi-Fi, encrypted VPN
- Manage app location permissions – Google Help
- About privacy and Location Services – Apple Support