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Why Google Is Disabling Kids' Gmail Accounts

Posted by timothy on from the handicapping-them-was-considered-gauche dept.

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."'"

16 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. Who's fault is it? by sidthegeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is it Google's fault? Or COPPA's? Or both?

    1. Re:Who's fault is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Children shouldn't be on the internet anyway. They should be readin the bible.

    2. Re:Who's fault is it? by AngryDeuce · · 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.

    3. Re:Who's fault is it? by Runaway1956 · · 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!"

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    4. Re:Who's fault is it? by Trepidity · · 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!

      --
      10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
    5. Re:Who's fault is it? by Galestar · · Score: 5, Informative
      You obviously completely misunderstand the issues at stake here.
      Please read the following;
      Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

      "fuck you kid, come back when you're 18."

      The age is 13, not 18, and because of your ignorance,

      "fuck you Moryath, come back when you know what you're talking about"

      --
      AccountKiller
    6. Re:Who's fault is it? by Vaphell · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You have it backwards. Having ridiculous laws is much worse than not having laws at all. Ridiculous laws will be broken and this is what undermines the very respect for the law.
      Also protecting the precious snowflakes at all costs has dire consequences when they meet the harsh bitch called life completely unprepared.

    7. Re:Who's fault is it? by Joe+U · · Score: 5, Funny

      You are seeing that with the OWS people. If you look at the demographics, there are a LOT of people born after 1985 or so. They lived their entire lives without ever seeing a recession. They think the enormous growth of the 90's was normal. Now comes a recession that affects their precious little selves and they freak the fuck out.

      If I can speak for my Generation (GenX), for a moment: (abridged version) Fuck you, Boomers and fuck you Millenials.

      The Baby Boomers for really screwing us over, several times. I look forward to the retirement homes we're going to toss you into on the budget you gave us. The Millenials for being whining idiots that generally fuck up the Internet I helped create. Please build better retirement homes in about 30 years, thanks.

    8. Re:Who's fault is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How is it even a "fault"? Google provides email service FOR FREE. They can do whatever the hell they want with it at any time with or without notification.

      If people don't like it, they can go pay for email somewhere else. The sense of entitlement going on here is ridiculous.

    9. Re:Who's fault is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The iBle.

    10. Re:Who's fault is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I was watching Venture Bros with a friend, who is a lukewarm Christian , the other day. He was talking about Brock Samson. It went like this.

      I said "Samson, like from the Bible".
      He said "What?".
      I said "Magic Hair, Jawbone of an ass, Paid his gambling debts with foreskins?"
      He said "WHAT? That's not in the bible, you're making that shit up, right?".

      Bible stories FTW.

  2. So COPPA is teaching our children to lie... by JoeMerchant · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Like every 9 year old on MySpace ever did... just put in the wrong birthyear and everything stays cool.

    1. Re:So COPPA is teaching our children to lie... by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Informative

      Also, the use of the viral video is a little off, since the baby never actually does anything with the account (as the Google spokesman says) - the father signs up for the account and agrees to the terms, the father then composes messages and sends them, the father reads messages received etc etc. Its the father doing things in the babies name, which is a whole different ball game to the kid signing up and using it themselves.

  3. Might as Well Teach them Young To Lie... by Ron+Bennett · · 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.

  4. Don't Link Your GMail to Google+ Account by Ron+Bennett · · Score: 5, Informative

    In reply to some comments / sentiments in this thread regarding how quick Google is to delete accounts, be wary of creating a Google+ account / user profile.

    There have been many reports of Google+ accounts being flagged for various reasons (username choosen, duplicate acct, complaints from others, etc) resulting in the linked services, such as, GMail being suspended / terminated too.

    Imho, avoid creating a Google+ account - not so easy now that Google is rolling that out across services, so the next best option is not create a profile; leave it as empty as possible. And keep services separate ... don't use the same Google+ account for GMail as one does for other services (ie. YouTube).

  5. Son's Account Was Reinstated With My Supervision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hi All,

    I too was put off by Google's disabling of my son's account, but I decided to give Google a chance and see if they would be reasonable. I sent a note to them in the only way I could come up with, by writing it (by hand on a paper), scanning together, my ID, and my note which was an explanation that my son was really under age, and that as his parent, I was the "holder" of his account, but he was using it under my supervision. I sent the note to their photo ID link, and his account was reinstated. I assume that they actually read the note, and allowed this, but it is possible they have an automated process that accepts any photo you send as ID, and automatically reinstates the account. If they do, shame on them. If they don't, I applaud them for being reasonable.

    Rob