back to article Google to offer special accounts for kids: report

Google is reportedly investigating how it can offer accounts to children. The Information reports that The Chocolate Factory is considering a regime whereby parents can set up accounts for kids and control the Google services they are permitted to access. Kids under 13 are currently not permitted to sign up for Google+. As …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Monetizing Children?

    Are they bidding to run a new government contract for a new #ElmGuestHouse?

    Don't Be Evil.

  2. ratfox

    Not trivial

    I understand that implementing the COPA rules can be a bitch to do properly, if you did not prepare for it from the beginning. More so when your business model is based on user information, I dare say…

  3. Valeyard

    well we know why

    "Mr Schmidt said he believed that every young person will one day be allowed to change their name to distance themselves from embarrasssing photographs and material stored on their friends' social media sites."

    i'll just leave this here...

  4. RyokuMas
    Devil

    Hello little child...

    ... would you like to see some puppies? Oh you would? Okay, let me make a note of that against your profile...

    Creepy.

    When I was a kid, we were taught "never talk to strangers". Right now, I'd feel safer talking to some random person in the street than Google - at least there would be witnesses in the street, and said random person wouldn't have the money and lobbying clout to do whatever they damn well choose...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This seems to legitimise the current scam..

    I'm going to take a step back here and ask, first of all, why a child is not considered legally competent to enter into a legal contract util it is 18, but it IS apparently considered competent enough to decide to give up its privacy on a global scale, a feat that even many adults lack the competence to assess properly.

    As a father, I would much rather prefer that I have *some* control over the activities of my child so that I can help them stay safe - at the moment, this "13 year and older" crap means that I am still liable, but not in control.

    Fix that first. Hello, EU privacy watchdogs, are you listening?

    1. NotWorkAdmin

      Re: This seems to legitimise the current scam..

      "As a father, I would much rather prefer that I have *some* control over the activities of my child"

      I'm pretty sure you do. My lot are all over 17 now, but I didn't let them have unfettered internet access when they were younger. I didn't rely on Google, or the government to protect them.

  6. Ross K Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Parental Responsibility?

    God forbid parents would take some responsibility for what their kids do on the internet.

    You can't keep kids off the internet, thanks in no small part to cheap smartphones.

    What you can do is educate them about safety and privacy - don't give out personal info (including photos), how to lock down social media, how to deal with trolls and cyberbullies, etc.

    It's not the EU privacy regulator's job to look after you kids.

    It's not the government's job either. It's your job as a parent.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Parental Responsibility?

      It's not the EU privacy regulator's job to look after you kids.

      It's not the government's job either. It's your job as a parent.

      I'm perfectly aware of my duties as a parent, and as an author for the Hacker Highschool I think I'm doing a fair bit towards my children's education. However, children make mistakes, and you have no grip whatsoever on the companies that wilfully mislead people about privacy.

      THAT's where regulation comes in - as a parent I should be able to undo the mistakes my children make. This is also why I vehemently object to the misleading "free" qualifier when companies offer services - it isn't free if they want your personal details.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Does need fixing

    My daughter is 10 (about to turn 11) and got a phone for Christmas, up until this week she's only been allowed free games on it and has been using a disposable Google account on the phone (which is running a version of CM without GMail installed), but she really wanted some paid games (Minecraft specifically) so got a google play card as part of her birthday presents.

    So this week I've set up a google account for her with an email address which she can use in a couple of years time so that any "paid" content doesn't need to be re-purchased in the future. To do this I had to effectively register the account as me again - but in a couple of years we'll change the name. She also doesn't have the passwords for the account so cant log into it from a PC. All unlocks go to my email and phone.

    It would be *much* better to be able to register a childs account under a separate parental control for this sort of situation. I've effectively done that - but the average parent wouldn't know how to put a custom ROM on the phone to "remove" services, and probably wouldn't have the understanding about password management.

    I don't think this can be that unusual as a use case, and is only going to get more common.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Google Apps For Families?

    I wanted the ability to manage my families email etc without running my own server, so a few years years a go ago when Google Apps was still free I registered a domain and set up accounts for anyone in my family who wanted it. So easy to manage grandparents and kids alike through the domain admin panel. https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager also teenage kid tracker! I think Google missed a business opportunity here, they could have offered a Google Apps for families.

  9. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. Gannon (J.) Dick
    Thumb Down

    The weeping you hear is ...

    ... the sound of parents of Google Employees realizing what they've raised.

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