Google confirms it notifies children if parents are monitoring their accounts

Discussion in 'Current Events' started by XXJefferson#51, Dec 21, 2020.

  1. XXJefferson#51

    XXJefferson#51 Banned

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    Google informs children when their parents are monitoring their account activity, the tech giant confirmed this month, with the company claiming that doing so is a way of balancing the interests of both parents and children.

    Google's child-notification policies received attention when film director Robby Starbuck claimed on Twitter that his 7-year-old child had received a warning from Google that his account was being monitored.

    "Our 7-year-old son has to have google for homeschooling," Starbuck wrote on Twitter, "so naturally we setup parental controls but look what [Google] did. They sent my son an email to tell him his privacy is important to them and telling him we’re supervising his account."

    "Your privacy is important to us," the company wrote to the 7-year-old boy, "and we want to remind you that your parent ... is supervising your Google account."




    https://justthenews.com/nation/tech...hildren-if-their-parents-are-monitoring-their




    This is an absolute outrage. Big tech social media monopolies are undermining parental authority in the home. This is anti family. And they default to the UN rather than to our sovereign constitution.
     
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  2. XXJefferson#51

    XXJefferson#51 Banned

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    This is an outrage. Congress and the regulatory agencies need to address this issue.
     
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  3. Spooky

    Spooky Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The left can't indoctrinate the younglings if thier are parents protecting them.
     
  4. XXJefferson#51

    XXJefferson#51 Banned

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    It reminds me of some school districts where students were doing zoom classrooms via distance learning at teachers were worried that students conservative parents might be following along at home. Some school districts actually tried to get parents to promise not to participate with their kids. It didn’t work.
     
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  5. peacelate

    peacelate Banned

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    How is this undermining parental authority when google allows parents to monitor their children's activity?
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2020
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  6. apexofpurple

    apexofpurple Well-Known Member

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    And yet it took Google more than half a decade to attempt to do something about pedos using YouTube as a swap meet for what was basically the largest public collection of child 'porn' (using that phrase loosely) on the web.
     
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  7. Andrew Jackson

    Andrew Jackson Well-Known Member

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    It is definitely a very interesting issue.

    That said, it is too bad that the "messenger" is a Discredited Whackadoodle (like Robby Starbuck)
     
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  8. MJ Davies

    MJ Davies Well-Known Member

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    I don't understand the problem. A 7 year old (or anybody under legal age should already know they are being monitored by their parents in one way or another. What good parent wouldn't?
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2020
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  9. truth and justice

    truth and justice Well-Known Member

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    How can they be undermining parental authority by allowing "parental controls"?

    Do you want your 7 year old to have free access to porn and violence?
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2020
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  10. truth and justice

    truth and justice Well-Known Member

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    Whoops. You beat me to it!
     
  11. Brit

    Brit Well-Known Member

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    If you were a kid and you discovered you were being spied on by your parents, wouldn't you be pissed off? Parents have every right to supervise, but why do you think they have the right to do that covertly? "Absolute outrage"? I just don't get it at all.
     
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  12. HTownMarine

    HTownMarine Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    We should tell drug dealers when they're under surveillance...

    Cause why wouldn't we? They have a right to know.
     
  13. Junkieturtle

    Junkieturtle Well-Known Member Donor

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    As someone who has used Google Family Link to monitor and limit my children's android devices for a couple of years now, I can attest to this firsthand. When the age of your child(according to the birthdate on their account) reaches 13, Google gives that child the ability to take control of their account from their parents. That means if you created an account for your child, they can take away your ability to control that account through the Google Family Link app. Control that app gives you includes the ability to set screen time windows and limits, app permissions and time limits, what they can install and run on their phones, their location and location sharing data, activity reports, even what Android features individual apps have access to(so for example you could turn off an app like Facebook or Snapchat from having access to the phones camera, contacts, or location, etc).

    My children have never tried taking over their accounts, so I'm not sure what kind of notifications it supplies the parents with the master accounts when that happens. I would imagine that the parent would be alerted, so your children couldn't stealth steal account control. Either way, a system that works fairly well as far as parental controls go for some reason decides your children stop needing parents at age 13. I'm sure there's some wishy-washy reasoning they give that is really just a cover for a purely business decision. This is about the age that kids are going to want to get into the social media and other internet socializing activites, so I'm sure this is a way to help those kinds find and use these sites.
     
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  14. Junkieturtle

    Junkieturtle Well-Known Member Donor

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    Parents have the right to control over their children's lives, which includes their use of electronic devices. In my case, my children are fully aware of what's going on, but even if they weren't, they are minors and have absolutely no expectation of privacy or autonomy with devices like this that my wife and I do not provide them.

    15 year old ignorant me would have posted exactly what you did. 39 year old me understands both sides of the issue now.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2020
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  15. XXJefferson#51

    XXJefferson#51 Banned

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    I’m glad they allow parental controls. That’s not the issue. The objection here is that they send a notice to the child that their parents have and are using said controls. That’s just wrong.
     
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  16. truth and justice

    truth and justice Well-Known Member

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    Why is that wrong? With the child knowing that their use of the internet can be observed by their parents they will be less likely to try and access adult sites. If they didn't know I can guarantee that children will look up dodgy sites and it will then be too late for the parent to act.
     
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  17. Junkieturtle

    Junkieturtle Well-Known Member Donor

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    I should also add here that the parental controls would have alerted a child's account right on their device itself to the fact that it is under the control or supervision of a parent the first time those children tried accessing something that requires parental approval or has been turned off by a parent. Children can even install the Family Link app on their phones to see the restrictions their parents have in place and check on device screen times, app usage, etc etc. Obviously it doesn't have the power to make changes like the parent's admin account does but it provides a lot of the same information to the child that is available to the parent.

    The only way this email provides information to a child that they wouldn't already have known(either because their parents flat-out told them or because they're been alerted by their device) is if those parents did not disable any features, had no screen-time limits, and otherwise made no changes that would differentiate that child's account from a non-Family Link account. I have a feeling this will be a tiny subset of cases.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2020
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  18. XXJefferson#51

    XXJefferson#51 Banned

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    Well the parent can set the controls to limit the time, sites, and other features their kids.can access. A 5-12 year old has no need to know that the parent has control. With some kids it’s just setting the parent up for an argument from the child. In the case of a 13 year old on Google taking control from a parent, if that happened I’d take the device and give it back with the understanding that the parental controls stay on. I’d allow access to more stuff as they get older but the parental controls stay. As to turning off the control as a parent it would depend on the trust level and relationship I have as to when and if that happened.
     
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  19. Brit

    Brit Well-Known Member

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    Maybe 39 year old you could read a bit more carefully. I already stated parents have the right to supervise their kids life, but you sidestepped the salient point - why should parents expect to be able to do this covertly? (And why is google's frustration of that ability an "absolute disgrace"?). I respect that you are upfront with your kids.
     
  20. Junkieturtle

    Junkieturtle Well-Known Member Donor

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    I don't know that parents should expect the "right" to do it, but I also believe they shouldn't need to worry about Google injecting itself into the paradigm. The parents can handle disclosure if or when they feel like it and Google has no legitimate business being involved in that at all. Arbitrarily deciding that age 13 means kids are old enough to take control of their Google account is also nutty. That's when the high-school dangers of social media use are just starting to get into high gear.

    For Google, it's about creating loopholes so that kids can still use their services like Youtube and Instagram and the Play Store without Mom & Dad having total control. It's a business decision. They just shouldn't be making it.
     
  21. mdrobster

    mdrobster Well-Known Member

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    I'm going to need more info on this. For one I don't trust the op nor his source.

    Parental controls on a browser are done via admin privileges. !!! If Google is subverting those privileges then there is a serious issue. Until one can prove that, I will take this with a grain of salt.

    My Google cell phone sometimes does change some settings, and I certainly blame Google for it, but this article reeks of identity politics.
     
  22. Brit

    Brit Well-Known Member

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    The last point is a very good one, though tangential to the question of secrecy. It seems to me google's position on the latter is reasonable enough. If your kid talked to me in confidence and I told you everything they said, they'd have every right to be annoyed at both of us.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2020
  23. mdrobster

    mdrobster Well-Known Member

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    That's just it, is Google subverting the admin account controls. The notifications, not sure, but one might be able to turn them off.

    Need to identify all the technical options first, then one can start passing judgement on this issue.
     
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  24. Pants

    Pants Well-Known Member

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    I see it as an opportunity or opening for discussion between the parents and the child.
     
  25. Daniel Light

    Daniel Light Well-Known Member

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    So I'm trying to understand your outrage.

    Google allows parents to monitor and restrict their kid's viewing habits. I'm assuming you are good with that part.

    What you seem to be mad about is that Google isn't letting you SECRETLY monitor that activity because ...? Are you hoping to
    secretly catch your kids doing something so you can lord it over them? Would't it be better that your kids knew they were
    being watched so they didn't attempt the searches in the first place? Isn't that the whole idea? Do you just enjoy spying
    on your kids?

    Help me out here.
     
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