Despite being bitter enemies, it looks like the search engine giant and the social networking king may have to form a temporary alliance in order to squash a California bill that can hinder both their businesses.
Web giants Facebook, Google, Twitter and Skype have banded together to oppose an online social networking privacy bill in California that would require users’ permission to display personal information such as home addresses and phone numbers. […]
The bill would also allow parents to request any personal identifying information about their children under the age of 18 be removed within 48 hours of asking. Violations of the bill would result in fines of up to $10,000 for each violation. (Washington Post)
While the bill seems like a great idea in theory, it would probably not help parents govern the digital lives of their kids (who would respond by simply lying about their age in order to avoid having their posts removed).
Even though I can not speak from personal experience, many of my friends who are parents with kids on Facebook, Google, etc. already have the ability to remove their children’s content due to the fact that they know their kids password (which they use as a prerequisite in order to use the internet).
Although the California government has good intentions, they should let the parents be parents in the lives of their kids, instead of trying to force companies to bend over backwards when simpler solutions are available.
Image via Sluggin.com
Originally posted on May 19, 2011 @ 3:43 pm