Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 12 april 2018
Child advocates ask FTC to investigate YouTube

device identifiers, location Although it's not known if ana Gruenwald Hender-
and other personal data the FTC will take action, the son said the agency looks
about its users so that it can complaint comes at a time forward to reviewing the
gauge their interests and of increased public scru- letter. She said the FTC al-
tailor advertising to them. tiny over the tech industry's ready has brought more
But a 1998 federal law pro- mining of personal data than two dozen cases for
hibits internet companies and after the FTC opened violations of the 1998 law.
from knowingly collecting an investigation last month It has settled child privacy
personal data from kids un- into Facebook's privacy cases with Yelp, mobile
der 13 without their parents' practices. advertising network inMobi
consent. For that reason, the FTC and electronic toy-maker
The coalition accuses You- "may be more reinvigo- VTech.
Tube of violating that law rated and ready to take None of those services are
and deliberately profiting these issues seriously," said as popular for kids as You-
off luring children into what Josh Golin, director of the Tube, which has toddler-
This March 20, 2018, file photo shows the YouTube app on an Chester calls an "ad-filled Campaign for a Commer- themed channels with
iPad in Baltimore. digital playground" where cial-Free Childhood, which names like ChuChuTV nurs-
Associated Press commercials for toys, drafted the complaint ery rhymes, which as of last
theme parks or sneakers along with the Center for week counted more than
By MATT O'BRIEN ing children's online privacy can surface alongside kid- Digital Democracy and a 16 million subscribers and
AP Technology Writer and allowing ads to target oriented videos. Georgetown University law 13.4 billion views. It also has
The fine print of YouTube's them. YouTube said in an emailed clinic. Several other groups many channels that cater
terms of service has a warn- "Google profits handsome- statement that it "will read have signed on, including to preteens.
ing that goes unheeded ly from selling advertising the complaint thoroughly Common Sense Media, Kandi Parsons, a former
by millions of children who to kid-directed programs and evaluate if there are which runs a popular web- FTC attorney who now ad-
visit YouTube to watch car- that it packages," said Jeff things we can do to im- site for families, and the vises companies on child-
toons, nursery rhymes, sci- Chester, director of the prove. Because YouTube advocacy division of Con- privacy compliance, said
ence experiments or videos Center for Digital Democ- is not for children, we've sumer Reports. that because YouTube is a
of toys being unboxed. racy, one of the groups invested significantly in "I think the day of reckoning general-audience service,
"If you are under 13 years that drafted the complaint. the creation of the You- has arrived," said U.S. Sen. it could be hard to deter-
of age, then please do not "They created a success- Tube Kids app to offer an Edward Markey, a Mas- mine if parents are curat-
use the service," the terms ful model monetizing kids' alternative specifically de- sachusetts Democrat who ing content for their kids to
say. "There are lots of other data." signed for children." co-authored the 1998 law watch or letting them use it
great web sites for you." Television networks also run That toddler-oriented You- and says he wants the FTC on their own. Parsons said
In a complaint filed Mon- ads during cartoons and Tube Kids app, launched in to look into the YouTube the FTC so far hasn’t gone
day, child advocates and other programs aimed at 2015, offers more parental complaint. "Americans after kid-directed channels
consumer groups are ask- kids. controls but is not as widely want to know the answers within broader media web-
ing the Federal Trade Com- The difference? YouTube used — and features a se- as to whether or not the sites, though that doesn’t
mission to investigate and does so with a lot of data lection of the same videos privacy of their children is mean it won’t.
impose potentially billions collection. Its business and channels that kids can being compromised in the Consumer advocates say
of dollars of penalties on model relies on tracking IP also find on the regular online world." Google knows what it is
Google for allegedly violat- addresses, search history, YouTube service. FTC spokeswoman Juli- doing.q

Apple co-founder closing Facebook account in privacy crisis

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ap- the houses around his and Tuesday and Wednesday
ple co-founder Steve Woz- all the lots around his in Ha- about the company's on-
niak is shutting down his waii for his own privacy," going data privacy scan-
Facebook account as the Wozniak said. "He knows dal and how it failed to
social media giant strug- the value of it, but he's not guard against other abuses
gles to cope with the worst looking after mine." of its service. Wozniak said
privacy crisis in its history. A British data mining firm af- he doesn't believe in the
In an email to USA Today, filiated with Donald Trump's current system that Face-
Wozniak said Facebook Republican presidential book can fix its privacy is-
makes a lot of advertis- campaign gathered per- sues, saying he doesn't
ing money from personal sonal information from 87 think Facebook is going to
details provided by users. million Facebook users to change its policies "for de-
He said the "profits are all try to influence elections. cades." Wozniak said Apple
based on the user's info, Facebook, based in Menlo Inc., based in Cupertino,
but the users get none of Park, California, has an- California, has systems and
the profits back." Wozniak nounced technical chang- policies that in many cases
said he'd rather pay for es intended to address pri- allow people to choose
Facebook. "Apple makes In this July 3, 2017, file photo, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak vacy issues. whether to share certain
money off of good prod- gestures as he attends a conference titled 'The Innovation Sum- Zuckerberg has apolo- data. He said he doesn't
mit' in Milan, Italy.
ucts, not off of you," he said. Associated Press gized, and Facebook's No. foresee Apple not allowing
In an interview late Mon- 2 executive, Sheryl Sand- the Facebook app to be
day in Philadelphia with The account and made the week. It's "a big hypocrisy berg, has said she's sorry bought or downloaded on
Associated Press, Wozniak move after several of his not respecting my priva- the company let so many its phones but said he does
said he had been thinking trusted friends deleted their cy when (Facebook CEO people down. Zuckerberg not make those decisions
for a while of deleting his Facebook accounts last Mark) Zuckerberg buys all will testify on Capitol Hill on for the company.q