We’ve talked about some of the initiatives to make the internet a safer place for kids – such as while lists, parental filters and so on in the previous edition of Voice of Russia's '.RU' - daily Runet review. Well, actually, perhaps these parental filters can protect not only children, but their parents. While lawmakers generally insist that access to information online should be limited as to protect the vulnerable hearts and minds of minors from being exposed to violence, nasty propaganda and other clearly adult content, they often overlook one thing that kids definitely should not do without parental supervision – spend money.
The Federal Trade Commission of the United States – the country’s regulator for all things commerce – has turned its sights on Amazon – one of the largest online retailers. The online supermall is now supposed to refund millions of dollars to parents, whose children have made purchases on its app market – not the retail website – if you’re not aware, Amazon also has its own app store, like Apple and Google. The FTC claims that these purchases were not authorized as Amazon did not ask parents for permission to conduct financial transactions. This didn’t come out of the blue, by the way – thousands of parents whose kids went on shopping sprees complained and demanded refunds.
FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said: "Amazon’s in-app system allowed children to incur unlimited charges on their parents’ accounts without permission. Even Amazon's own employees recognized the serious problem its process created. We are seeking refunds for affected parents and a court order to ensure that Amazon gets parents' consent for in-app purchases." The majority of apps targeted by complaints were targeted at kids. Expenses incurred were caused by in-app purchases – such as various items and artifacts and other ‘pay to win’ kind of things which mobile apps often have these days. The issue presents a moral conundrum by itself – should games for children even allow users the possibility to pay for something? In any case, Amazon allows these kind of apps - and not really surprising, as the company receives 30% of all payments made through its app store.
Amazon does not agree with the multi-million-dollar action, however. In an open letter the company’s Vice President Andrew DeVore wrote "It’s an understatement to say that this response is deeply disappointing. In-app purchasing was and remains a new and rapidly evolving segment, and we have consistently improved the customer experience in response to data." Amazon is not alone in this situation, either. Previously Apple had to deal with a similar legal action. Back in January the company decided to settle the issue, paying thirty two and a half million dollars to its customers, whose children made unauthorized in-app purchases. At the same time the company changed the way parental controls work – in other words, from now on kids won’t be able to spend their parents’ money in apps unless grow-ups actually agree to it. You know, all is fine here except one thing – why couldn’t they make such a system in the first place?
