Google has agreed to pay full refunds totaling at least $19 million to consumers who were charged for purchases that children made via apps without parental consent from the Google - New Zealand Herald
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eParenting and Parenting in the 21st Century
eParenting used to mean keeping your kids safe on the Internet, however now it has a wider scope including parenting with the use of technology, and distance parenting. Curated by Peter Mellow |
Scooped by Peter Mellow |
Google has agreed to pay full refunds totaling at least $19 million to consumers who were charged for purchases that children made via apps without parental consent from the Google - New Zealand Herald
Scooped by Peter Mellow |
Google is facing legal action from parents in the US angry over purchases their children have made in games without their consent.
The case is being filed by a New York mother on behalf of other parents.
She was furious that her five-year-old son was able to spend $66 (£39) within five minutes of downloading a free game called Marvel Run Jump Smash.
Last year, Apple agreed to refund customers to the tune of $32.5m over similar purchases.
Rescooped by Peter Mellow from iPad game apps for children |
This screen shot highlights the financial dangers and risks of in-app purchases. While the game is 'Free' to download, the in-app purchases presented can soon add up to a very expensive experience!
This 'Freemium' business model make it attractive to get the app for free, but many children get frustrated about the slow progress they make in the game, or the limited features available unless they pay for upgrades and packs/bundles of extras to help them progress.
The same model is on many Zynga games in Facebook. You get limited features and opportunities unless you pay extra with real money.
Some things to consider doing to manage it better is to turn the 'In-App Purchases' off in your 'General' settings on your iOS (Mac iPad, iPod, iPhone) device. Plus enable 'Restrictions' so you can filter for age appropriate content and set it up to that every purchase requires a password immediatly.
While this can be frustrating at times, it will ensure that having put the password in once, that children using the device for the next 15 minutes can't just hit the 'buy' button in every game to rack up more costs on your account.
There are many sad stories about how this has allowed children to run up very large bills for their parents/caregivers and it can take a lot of sorting out to try and get out of these purchases. - Peter Mellow