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Monday, June 04, 2012

Facebook Developing Technology to Allow Access to Children Under 13

Facebook is developing technology that would allow children younger than 13 years old to use the social-networking site under parental supervision, a step that could help the company tap a new pool of users for revenue but also inflame privacy concerns.
Mechanisms being tested include connecting children's accounts to their parents' and controls that would allow parents to decide whom their kids can "friend" and what applications they can use, people who have spoken with Facebook executives about the technology said. The under-13 features could enable Facebook and its partners to charge parents for games and other entertainment accessed by their children, the people said.
Facebook currently bans users under 13. But many kids lie about their ages to get accounts, putting the company in an awkward position regarding a federal law that requires sites to obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal data from children.
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Facebook is nothing but garbage!

Anonymous said...

This is ridiculous. Isn't it painfully obvious that today's parenting style (not all) is to be your child's friend and not guardian?

Anonymous said...

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'd be suprised if in a year FB is still in double digits.

Anonymous said...

They already have users under 13. It's no secret. And their parents don't supervise them.