Washington Post:
When Scott Fitzsimones turned 13, he got an iPhone, set up accounts for Facebook and Pandora and went on an apps downloading spree. At the same time, the new teenager lost many protections over his privacy online.
The games he plays know his location at any given moment through the phone’s GPS technology. He has entered his parents’ credit card number to buy apps, and iTunes has his family’s e-mail address and everyone’s full names. Facebook knows his birth date and the school he attends.
The first time he was asked to share his location on the game Pocket God, the seventh-grader paused for a moment to consider why the company would want to know his whereabouts.
But he feared that if he didn’t agree, his experience on the app would be limited, and Fitzsimones wanted to get started on his cartoon pygmy adventure on Oog Island. So he tapped “okay,” feeling comfort in the masses; his friends, after all, were using the app and never complained.
I'm not sure you can knowingly consent to anything when you're 13. Hell, even adults don't know what they're really consenting to. In Europe, so much of this is already illegal - they have real privacy laws protecting people. Here it's the Wild West. Because, we are number one, you know.
