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Cool project, but please don’t install Life360 on your child’s phone. IMO it really destroys trust with your child. Having Life360 on your phone is a signal amo

Cool project, but please don’t install Life360 on your child’s phone. IMO it really destroys trust with your child. Having Life360 on your phone is a signal among children that your parents are very strict and some consider it a vector for emotional abuse.

_fzslm 6y ago
i don't know specifically about Life360 as we use Find My (apple's) in our family, but if everyone in your family trusts each other it can potentially be a life-saver. i've never stalked any of my family using it, i only use it when expecting someone or if it's late and i'm concerned about their wellbeing. i am acutely aware that this is not always the case within families, however.
- chickenpotpie 6y ago
  Regardless if everyone is using the app 100% consensually, it has some horrible privacy policies. They reserve the right to sell your location data to insurance companies. They can inform your car and health insurance that think you’re not driving safe or going to dangerous areas.
  - _fzslm 6y ago
    yeahhhh, okay that's pretty bad. regardless of apple's privacy policies i'm uncomfortable with giving access to my location to any company, in case interests change. i will definitely consider self-hosting something like owntracks [0] so i'm in control of my data. OP should consider doing the same! (not a shill) [0]: https://owntracks.org https://owntracks.org
  - randomstring 6y ago
    You might not like that the clock shows you to be in "Mortal Peril" when you travel over 75mph. :)
  - lb1lf 6y ago
    -With regards to selling my location info to third parties, I have been fighting an increasingly irresistible urge to set up an old smartphone and an SDR in my basement to see whether they derive the location info from GPS exclusively or if they use cellular info, too. It would be fun to spoof the GPS data to draw all sorts of obscene art for their viewing (dis)pleasure.
  - crhulls 6y ago
    It is frustrating when people say this. We are super transparent and give way more control than other apps. And no, we don't sell your data to insurance companies (we do do sell data for things like real time speed monitoring for traffic companies and people movement like the COVID dashboards many people have seen). See blog post here https://www.life360.com/blog/understanding-how-life360-uses-and-protects-your-data/ https://www.life360.com/blog/understanding-how-life360-uses-...
    - chickenpotpie 6y ago
      Your privacy policy also says you share geolocation data with a 3rd party company that may “provide and service insurance products, including using personal data to perform profiling activities”
      - crhulls 6y ago
        See comment below for more details, but we have driving services powered by Allstate (Arity a subsidiary to be specific). This is not a buyer/seller relationship and they are heavily restricted with what they can do. There is no risk of (or ability for) them to use this to change your rates or link this to your current insurance policy.
randomstring 6y ago
I understand where you're coming from on this. I do not think the the service itself is a source of emotional abuse, it's how it's used. Can it be used to abuse privacy? Absolutely. I've seen other parents who have harassed their kid about where they are or how fast they are driving. I don't want to use it that way, I'm not going to use it that way. Modeling appropriate use of technology and privileges is an important lesson that needs be taught (and practiced). Lessons that translate to being an admin on a minecraft server or having root access on a system. When I first installed Life360 my son was using it to track me. He made some comment one day about how he saw where I'd gone for lunch. He'd been checking up on me. Since then, he's become bored stalking his family. With shelter-in-place in effect no one goes anywhere anyway.
- chickenpotpie 6y ago
  I don’t know. To me it’s the same as removing the lock from your child’s door. It’s safer, more convenient, and if you respect your child’s boundaries it’s functionally the same. But what message does that send? Installing this app might just be for convenience and safety and you’ve given me no reason to believe you would use abusively, but this is still an app that has a reputation of abuse and mistrust. Look it up on /r/teenagers or TikTok. Kids know this is a tool of abuse and installing it on their phone sends the message that a parent doesn’t trust their child to be safe. Especially as the child nears adulthood, when they’re about to be extremely independent.
  - grawprog 6y ago
    I'm against the idea of tracking my kids, but on the other hand, i also look at it as kind of a challenge for them. I'd be pretty disappointed if my kid couldn't figure out how to get it off their phone or at least work around it or something. That's how I learned when my parents tried to install a keylogger on my computer when I was young. Plus, it'll help make them tracking savvy and teach them young they need to be aware of this and learn how to deal with them. It has become one of those constant things in today's society.
    - 6y ago
bitwize 6y ago
Indeed. It used to be common in (muggle) families to satisfy themselves with "be home when the street lights come on" as a heuristic, and it instilled toughness and maturity in kids as a result.

_fzslm 6y ago

i don't know specifically about Life360 as we use Find My (apple's) in our family, but if everyone in your family trusts each other it can potentially be a life-saver. i've never stalked any of my family using it, i only use it when expecting someone or if it's late and i'm concerned about their wellbeing. i am acutely aware that this is not always the case within families, however.

chickenpotpie 6y ago
Regardless if everyone is using the app 100% consensually, it has some horrible privacy policies. They reserve the right to sell your location data to insurance companies. They can inform your car and health insurance that think you’re not driving safe or going to dangerous areas.
- _fzslm 6y ago
  yeahhhh, okay that's pretty bad. regardless of apple's privacy policies i'm uncomfortable with giving access to my location to any company, in case interests change. i will definitely consider self-hosting something like owntracks [0] so i'm in control of my data. OP should consider doing the same! (not a shill) [0]: https://owntracks.org https://owntracks.org
- randomstring 6y ago
  You might not like that the clock shows you to be in "Mortal Peril" when you travel over 75mph. :)
- lb1lf 6y ago
  -With regards to selling my location info to third parties, I have been fighting an increasingly irresistible urge to set up an old smartphone and an SDR in my basement to see whether they derive the location info from GPS exclusively or if they use cellular info, too. It would be fun to spoof the GPS data to draw all sorts of obscene art for their viewing (dis)pleasure.
- crhulls 6y ago
  It is frustrating when people say this. We are super transparent and give way more control than other apps. And no, we don't sell your data to insurance companies (we do do sell data for things like real time speed monitoring for traffic companies and people movement like the COVID dashboards many people have seen). See blog post here https://www.life360.com/blog/understanding-how-life360-uses-and-protects-your-data/ https://www.life360.com/blog/understanding-how-life360-uses-...
  - chickenpotpie 6y ago
    Your privacy policy also says you share geolocation data with a 3rd party company that may “provide and service insurance products, including using personal data to perform profiling activities”
    - crhulls 6y ago
      See comment below for more details, but we have driving services powered by Allstate (Arity a subsidiary to be specific). This is not a buyer/seller relationship and they are heavily restricted with what they can do. There is no risk of (or ability for) them to use this to change your rates or link this to your current insurance policy.

randomstring 6y ago

I understand where you're coming from on this. I do not think the the service itself is a source of emotional abuse, it's how it's used. Can it be used to abuse privacy? Absolutely. I've seen other parents who have harassed their kid about where they are or how fast they are driving. I don't want to use it that way, I'm not going to use it that way. Modeling appropriate use of technology and privileges is an important lesson that needs be taught (and practiced). Lessons that translate to being an admin on a minecraft server or having root access on a system. When I first installed Life360 my son was using it to track me. He made some comment one day about how he saw where I'd gone for lunch. He'd been checking up on me. Since then, he's become bored stalking his family. With shelter-in-place in effect no one goes anywhere anyway.

chickenpotpie 6y ago
I don’t know. To me it’s the same as removing the lock from your child’s door. It’s safer, more convenient, and if you respect your child’s boundaries it’s functionally the same. But what message does that send? Installing this app might just be for convenience and safety and you’ve given me no reason to believe you would use abusively, but this is still an app that has a reputation of abuse and mistrust. Look it up on /r/teenagers or TikTok. Kids know this is a tool of abuse and installing it on their phone sends the message that a parent doesn’t trust their child to be safe. Especially as the child nears adulthood, when they’re about to be extremely independent.
- grawprog 6y ago
  I'm against the idea of tracking my kids, but on the other hand, i also look at it as kind of a challenge for them. I'd be pretty disappointed if my kid couldn't figure out how to get it off their phone or at least work around it or something. That's how I learned when my parents tried to install a keylogger on my computer when I was young. Plus, it'll help make them tracking savvy and teach them young they need to be aware of this and learn how to deal with them. It has become one of those constant things in today's society.
  - 6y ago

bitwize 6y ago

Indeed. It used to be common in (muggle) families to satisfy themselves with "be home when the street lights come on" as a heuristic, and it instilled toughness and maturity in kids as a result.