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This isn't the biggest issue at play, but one detail I can't stop thinking about: > If an account held by a child under 13 wishes to send an image that the on-
by Wowfunhappy 5y ago
This isn't the biggest issue at play, but one detail I can't stop thinking about:
> If an account held by a child under 13 wishes to send an image that the on-device machine learning classifier determines is a sexually explicit image, a notification will pop up, telling the under-13 child that their parent will be notified of this content. [...] For users between the ages of 13 and 17, a similar warning notification will pop up, though without the parental notification.
Why is it different for children under 13, specifically? The 18-year cutoff makes sense, because turning 18 carries legal weight in the US (as decided via a democratic process), but 13?
13 is an age when many parents start granting their children more freedom, but that's very much rooted in one's individual culture—and the individual child. By giving parents fewer options for 13-year-olds, Apple—a private company—is pushing their views about parenting onto everyone else. I find that a little disturbing.
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Note: I'm not (necessarily) arguing for greater restrictions on 13-year-olds. Privacy for children is a tricky thing, and I have mixed feelings about this whole scheme. What I know for sure, however, is that I don't feel comfortable with Apple being the one to decide "this thing we've declared an appropriate invasion of privacy for a 12-year-old is not appropriate for a 13-year-old."
- websites2023 5y agoThe feature is opt-in. So, Apple isn't forcing anyone to do anything.
- Wowfunhappy 5y agoBut you have fewer options if your child is 13 years old. Or am I misunderstanding the article?
- websites2023 5y agoParents need to expressly opt in to Communication Safety when setting up a child's device with Family Sharing, and it can be disabled if a family chooses not to use it.
- Wowfunhappy 5y agoBut what if the family wants to use it on the device of a 13-year-old child?
- websites2023 5y agoParents cannot be notified when a child between the ages of 13 and 17 views a blurred photo, though children that are between those ages will still see the warning about sensitive content if Communication Safety is turned on.
- Wowfunhappy 5y agoRight, but that's my point about Apple making choices around an arbitrary age cutoff.
- websites2023 5y agoI kind of agree with you there. Isn't it just another toggle? Surely if the entire feature is opt-in, the blurring could be a toggle, as well as the notification.
- Wowfunhappy 5y agoThe article didn't say that these age differences were adjustable defaults, so I would presume not. If Apple put in these restrictions to protect the privacy of older children, making it adjustable would defeat the point. (And by the way, I respect Apple's desire to protect children's privacy from their parents, but forcing the change at 13, for everyone, seems awfully prescriptive. It's fundamentally a parenting decision, and Apple should not be making parenting decisions.) But if this can in fact be controlled by the parent regardless of the child's age, that does resolve the problem!
- BluSyn 5y ago13 isn't an arbitrary cut-off. It's established as law in the US under COPPA. Similar to how 18 is the cut off for the other features. Other countries may have different age ranges according to local laws.
- Wowfunhappy 5y agoIs COPPA relevant to this feature, though? 18, to me, is different, because it's the point when your parents have no legal authority, so of course they shouldn't have any say over how you use your phone.
- BluSyn 5y agoIt's relevant as under 13 all online activity can legally be monitored by a parent/guardian. 13-17 it's a gray area. Some countries have adulthood set at age 20. All the numbers are arbitrary in some sense, but local laws have to dictate that.
- Wowfunhappy 5y agoI know nothing about this, but I'm very surprised that any type of supervision—which is what this really is—would be legally unclear, for anyone who is a minor.
- jtsiskin 5y agoCOPPA. Apple necessarily already has a special under-13 settings. There’s also PG13, etc
- Ajedi32 5y agoYeah, the "your phone will check your personal files against an opaque, unauditable, government-provided database and rat you out if it gets a match" part of this is very concerning, but I don't buy the EFF's arguments against the new parental control features. End-to-end encrypted or not, if you're sending messages to a minor you should expect that their parents can read those messages.