Software snoops on kids’ Web posts
Parents who install a leading brand of software to monitor their kids’ online activities may be unwittingly allowing the company to read their children’s chat messages — and sell the data gathered.
Software sold under the Sentry and FamilySafe brands can read private chats conducted through Yahoo, MSN, AOL and other services, and send back data on what kids are saying about such things as movies, music or video games. The information is then offered to businesses seeking ways to tailor their marketing messages to kids.
The company that sells the software, EchoMetrix, insists it is not putting kids’ information at risk, since the program does not record names or addresses. But the software knows how old they are because parents customize its features to be more or less permissive, based on age.
In June, EchoMetrix unveiled a separate data-mining service called Pulse that taps into the data gathered by Sentry software to give businesses a glimpse of youth chatter online low interest auto loans. While other services read publicly available teen chatter, Pulse also can read private chats. It gathers information from instant messages, blogs, social networking sites, forums and chat rooms.
EchoMetrix CEO Jeff Greene said the company complies with privacy laws and does not collect identifiable information.
Parents who don’t want the company to share their child’s information can check a box to opt out. But that option can be found only by visiting the company’s website, accessible through a control panel after the program is installed.
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