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Google To Refund $19M In In-App Purchases Made By Kids
An anonymous reader writes "Google has agreed pay $19 million to refund customers unfairly charged for in-app purchases made by children without authorization from their parents. The company has agreed to change its billing practices to ensure that it obtains informed consent from customers before charging them for items sold within mobile apps, according to the FTC. "For millions of American families, smartphones and tablets have become a part of their daily lives," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. "As more Americans embrace mobile technology, it's vital to remind companies that time-tested consumer protections still apply, including that consumers should not be charged for purchases they did not authorize.""
I have kids...I'm not a moron...I didn't save my password. It prompts me for each purchase.
I have no idea how they lost this.
Mom downloads a "free" game for their kid. Mom hands phone to kid to play "free" game. The mom shouldn't wind up with thousands of dollars in a bill.
I guess I'm going to have my kids buy all the in-app purchases from now on.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Oh, big brother, please protect me from myself.
I handed my child a $700 computer that I had already entered my credit card information into, and somehow they went shopping for golden cookies.
PROTECT ME!
$19 million to Google.... simply good PR at a bargain.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
99% of 'Free' apps are paid for, either by eyeballs (advertising) or the hooker model (looking is free, the rest will cost you).
What actually needs to happen is the payment model needs to be explicitly stated. The app is either $9.99, paid for through advertising or paid for through in-app purchases, and "Free" should be reserved for just that - actually 'Free' apps
If iOS 8 feature works correctly this will be nice for parents! Sure Google and others will copy it soon enough so it will be an option there too at some point!
http://mashable.com/2014/06/02/ios-8-family-share/
You mean Google will have behave like a company run like a business? Say it ain't so!!
micropayments don't require normal credit/debit card safeties such as PIN NUMBERS, once a company has your details they can plank through micropayments at will. That shit adds up.
Simple solution: outlaw micropayments. The banks are there ostensibly to look after our financial interests, the tools are already there, let's get their use enforced under ALL payment circumstances.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Ignorance does pay....
what took them so long??
also can you block buying stuff but still let you buy $0 / free apps
the big issue was needing the same password to install free apps as well as buying stuff. Free should not ask for a password / pin so you can't end running up the bill very easy and to make getting free stuff easy.
At least they turned off the old 15 min free for all that let you put in pin / password to get free stuff and then also let you buy stuff without asking for it.
and they made it so you can't need to link a CC to get free apps / updates.
Seriously, monthly hidden cell phone fees that "children" incur without permission probably vastly surpasses 19 million every month. Why hasn't the FTC done ANYTHING about that.
In my experience about two years ago, with an android tablet and a 3-4 year old child: there was absolutely no setting I could activate to require password re-entry for purchases via Google Play (or Store).
I had a Google Checkout account (for my business) and I was required to have a credit card on file with Google. Purchases could be made with my card anytime I was logged into Google on my tablet, which was anytime I used it. I also had games for my kid to play, she was old enough to pick up the tablet on her own and play a puzzle, but not old enough to understand she should not make a purchase. I called Google and asked what I could do, and can they please require a password for any purchases. They told me too bad, so sad, STBY. I screamed at them at the time, but I'm smirking now. I tried to tell 'em.
You don't need to buy anything to get golden cookies in Cookie Clicker. You get one for free every 6 to 10 minutes, which gets cut down to every 2 over the course of the game (Lucky day + Serendipity upgrades).
Or maybe I'm missing the point...
Somewhere there is a dude that will or will not issue the permit for Google's remotely piloted ground spying platform / slash / rolling privacy invasion tool.
Does this dude have children? Does he want to keep the world safe for his children? Will the google car run over his child?
Is google not the company that just scanned everyone's gmail and turned in 'pedofiles?' This is vigalantism. Does Eric Holder condone this?
Kidde porn is wrong, but exploiting kiddies with in-app purchases is OK on the google moral compass?
What actually needs to happen is the payment model needs to be explicitly stated. The app is either $9.99, paid for through advertising or paid for through in-app purchases, and "Free" should be reserved for just that - actually 'Free' apps
For example, the payment model called "shareware" might include a game whose first levels are without charge but which has a one-time charge for each expansion pack. A shareware first-person shooter might come with 8 levels, add 24 more levels if you buy "Ultimate" IAP, and add another set of 32 if you buy "Sequel" IAP. (This is how Doom was originally priced.) I'd define shareware as a free app with a small number of "entitlements", which refers to IAPs that stay with the user's app store account so long as the app remains on the store. Much of the ire directed at IAPs is for abuse of "consumables" which may be repeated and, in many games, have to be repeated in order to progress substantially without waiting weeks.
Tricking the stupid and vulnerable out of their money is the American Way!
This is a bit different. There you have signed a contract where the conditions were clear. Here is someone buying something, and given no options. They had no choice for 30 minutes. In fact, they weren't even told someone could buy whatever they wanted for 30 minutes after.
I don't get it.. if I accidentally buy the wrong thing at a store there's a good chance I can return it (sometimes even if they're not entirely obligated to) without all this stuff about how I'M A MORON AND SHOULD SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES FOR BEING SO PAINFULLY STUPID
But hell forbid I accidentally let my kid run up my phone bill a few bucks, then tell Google, "damn, I didn't mean to do that, can you undo it?"
NO LUSER YOU SHOULD PARENT BETTER
Google further went on to say that they'd have to wait until it went to the bank on Monday, because "we don't carry small change."
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I want to know what happened to parenting? Are these devices the new nanny? Do parents not know how to set boundaries and teach their kids. Obviously
any time you purchase something you get a confirmation email about the purchase. You would think a parent could lock down a device when they discover they cannot control their child. I guess its easier to blame the device or the devices store for their lax management of payment options. All these idiotic parents who give technology to kids who may not be able to handle it or know how not to misuse it? Did any of you parents ever think your child might not be ready for a smart phone, a tablet, or computer of heir own? You know what it is, other bad parents give their kids devices so you as a parent have no choice but to buy them for your kids. Kids don't inherent good common sense, its taught by parents and kids have to learn what to do and not do. Parents, also need to learn they need to be parents not friends to their kids.