Why Google Is Disabling Kids' Gmail Accounts 228
theodp writes "The Washington Post's Elizabeth Flock managed to hold Google's feet to the fire and get an explanation of sorts for why it's making kids cry by disabling their Gmail accounts after years of use. Giving 12-year-olds access to Gmail — unless they are using Google Apps for Education accounts through their school — is proving to be as formidable a task for Google as making renewable energy cheaper than coal. But what about that viral 'Dear Sophie' commercial, asked Flock, in which a father creates a Gmail account for his baby daughter and uses it to send her photos, videos, and messages that chronicle her growing up? 'The implied understanding,' replied a Google spokesman, 'is that the girl in the story does not have access to the account, but that she will have access to it "someday."'"
So COPPA is teaching our children to lie... (Score:5, Insightful)
Like every 9 year old on MySpace ever did... just put in the wrong birthyear and everything stays cool.
Re:Who's fault is it? (Score:4, Insightful)
I was wondering, do you think it would be more efficient if you could come in and tell us when something is not Google's fault? I'm just saying, it would probably save you some time, since the list of things that you think are their fault is clearly much longer.
Might as Well Teach them Young To Lie... (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems a good lesson that often in life one must tell lies of varying degrees. Fibbing about age is one of those.
Many websites and services (email, web hosting / blog sites, facebook, etc) have age stipulations ranging from 13 to 21, which effectively makes much of the web useless to young people unless they lie.
Re:My daughter was extremely upset as well. (Score:4, Insightful)
You Do. Not. Need. A. Copy. Of. My. Passport.
Actually.. legally.. they do. If you want access to that account again, you can either verify that her parent has authorized the kid to be scaped and indexed and acknowledge that your kid can receive the accompanying advertising, or you can create another anonymous account to have similar advertising, scraping, analyzing done to her anyway. In one case, she gets her account back; in the other case, Google gets their data anyway.
As much as I'm for privacy, it's not like providing a copy of your passport is providing anything that Google doesn't have on you anyway. They don't even need _your_ google account to link it to, do they (not sure)? They just, legally, need to be sure that a parent/guardian has allowed Google to analyze their kid. US laws, if not your country's laws.
So perhaps you should explain to your daughter one of two things:
1. Your resentment of someone verifying that you are you, and you have control over your kid
2. US laws designed to protect the privacy of kids, and how they're hurting her. Perhaps you can go into how your own country's privacy laws work.
Re:Who's fault is it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems to me that Google should startup a 'Google Kids' to handle things like this in compliance with COPPA. Once the child reaches 12, they can convert it over to a regular Gmail account.
Parents can administrate, while at the same time teaching their kids how to behave on the internet, teachers can email assignments, etc. As long as control rests solely with the parent, I see no issue with something like that.
Re:My daughter was extremely upset as well. (Score:2, Insightful)
Probably not. Unless he's living under totalitarian rule (China, Saudi Arabia, etc.), chances are he's used to more sensible legislation regarding the internet.
Re:Who's fault is it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually - COPPA needs to die. Parents are supposed to be a child's first line of defense. Then the courts. Simply mandating that kids can't access and/or must be monitored by a provider such as Google is simply asinine. As a parent, and as a grandparent, I'd cheefully counsel my kids how to circumvent COPPA bullshit.
"See the box, where they ask how old you are? What's the minimum age? Alright, Honey, just add 3 or 6 to that minimum age, so your "birth year" is going to be 19xx, alright? Yeah, I know you're not 20 yet, but THEY don't know that!"
Re:Who's fault is it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I would be more ok with Google just saying "this isn't a service for children" if they didn't also make TV ads about children having Google accounts. Pick one or the other!
Re:Might as Well Teach them Young To Lie... (Score:4, Insightful)
Just wait until they sue the kids for violating the law meant to protect them, under the exact same law.
And then have 'em tried as adults, just for good measure.
Don't forget to tell your 13-year old kids it's illegal to make n00d self-shots in the mirror with their iPhones. They will be in possession of extremely illegal content one minute after their 14th birthday, be tried as adults and registered as sex offenders for life.
Remember: all the things we used to do when we were young are now illegal. All.
You get what you pay for (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:You get what you pay for (Score:5, Insightful)
"Free" doesn't mean "exempt from criticism." That said, they're also free to not listen to you.
And I think this is really the fault of idiotic "think of the children" laws.
Re:My daughter was extremely upset as well. (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, they don't think they have jurisdiction over foreign individuals. But they do have jurisdiction over the company holding the data - and quite possibly over the physical server itself (if it is in an american data centre).
Re:My daughter was extremely upset as well. (Score:5, Insightful)
Free does not mean 'immune from criticism'.
Why do you imply that it does?
Re:Who's fault is it? (Score:2, Insightful)
As an atheist, I wholeheartedly support this idea. If all kids were forced to read the entire Bible before they turn 13, and pass the exam on textual knowledge - why, that would probably do more to reduce the influence of Christianity than efforts of all the various skeptic and secular humanist groups in the country. ~
Re:Who's fault is it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Windows Live/Hotmail allows and encourages child accounts.
That leads me to a few ideas as to why Google won't comply with COPPA. The most likely one being that they just can't turn the marketing machine off.
Re:Who's fault is it? (Score:5, Insightful)
If people don't like it, they can go pay for email somewhere else. The sense of entitlement going on here is ridiculous.
Re:Who's fault is it? (Score:2, Insightful)
The bible makes sense? Sure it does. And so does the Koran, so they say. In fact, pretty much any ridiculous belief has a ton of supporters.
Never anyone reputable though. I mean, look at the people who say that - idiots who say things like " ... science falsely called, and ...".
I know you get brownie points for trying to convince people of the existence of the sky fairy, and most-importantly you feel like it validates your belief, but it's crap. The book, the teachings, and the institutionalized ignorance required for faith.
Because of the nature of ego I'm sure this post will just drive you to your chosen delusion with more fervor but hopefully it helps someone on the fence decide to investigate more, and with non-cult sources, before ruining their life with it.