Worthy Christian News > US News > Google policy informs children that parents are monitoring their account

Google policy informs children that parents are monitoring their account

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Google has confirmed it tells children when their parents are supervising their accounts, Just the News reported Sunday. The issue came to light when film director Robby Starbuck tweeted that his 7-year-old son had been notified by Google that his account was being supervised.

Writing about Google’s action on Twitter, Starbuck said: “Our 7-year-old son has to have Google for homeschooling 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.”

In their message to Starbuck’s son, Google wrote: “Your privacy is important to us, and we want to remind you that your parent … is supervising your Google account.”

When asked to comment on the matter, Google confirmed that it does tell children that their parents are monitoring their accounts, Just the News said. Google went on to justify its policy by referencing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UK Age Appropriate Design Code as providing children with protection of their privacy.

The 1990 UN Convention states that: “No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honor and reputation.”

Meanwhile, the UK Code says: “Children who are subject to persistent parental monitoring may have a diminished sense of their own private space which may affect the development of their sense of their own identity. This is particularly the case as the child matures and their expectation of privacy increases,” Just the News reports.