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> But as acceptable as it is, you are still a spy and the app is spyware. I vehemently disagree that a feature could be classed as spyware if it clearly and un
by simondotau 5y ago
> But as acceptable as it is, you are still a spy and the app is spyware.
I vehemently disagree that a feature could be classed as spyware if it clearly and unambiguously declares exactly what it's going to do prior offering a choice whether or not to do it. By that logic, the mere presence of a "report phishing" button in any cloud email service would be sufficient to declare it as spyware.
But fine, whatever. You're welcome to call any form of parental oversight of a child below the age of thirteen "spyware" if you like, so long as you accept that it's entirely my choice as a parent. This feature isn't on by default. If your opinions as a parent are different, don't turn it on. It's not your place to deny me access to this opt-in tool which can help keep my child safe.
- johnmaguire 5y agoWhen I was a child, my mother refused to buy me any computers. I had to earn money mowing lawns and raking leaves to buy a laptop. Once I had a laptop, she told me she wished there was software she could install on all of her children's computers that would allow her to view what each of us was doing on her TV. I considered that spying - even if it was intentional on her part. I detested how few rights I had as a child.
- dwaite 5y ago> I detested how few rights I had as a child. That is called being a teenager, I think.
- LocalH 5y agoMinors deserve no privacy? Is that what you're saying?
- simondotau 5y agoIf you're talking about teenagers, I would say there's valid debate to be had. Minors, hell no. There's no debate. Parents are entitled to know—I'd personally go further and say a responsibility to know—what's going on in their life.
- johnmaguire 5y agoTeenagers are minors. Doesn't sound like a very trusting environment.
- simondotau 5y agoI guess there's a language difference. I'm Australian.
- johnmaguire 5y agoThe dictionary defines a minor as "a person under the age of full legal responsibility" which I think teenagers would still fall under, even in Australia? Understandably the term might be used differently or more loosely elsewhere.
- brokenmachine 5y agoI'm also Australian but I know what "minor" means.
- LocalH 5y agoTeaching kids that they have no right to privacy is a great way to raise people who don't respect the privacy of others. Parents don't have an inherent right to know every single thing in a child's life. By that token, if a child is gay, and their parents are rabid anti-gay bigots, they still have a "right" to know whether their child is seeking out information relevant to LGBT teens. I'm sorry, but I wholeheartedly reject that premise.
- odessacubbage 5y agoonce given a device, a child's technical literacy will quickly surpass that of their guardian and as such, any form of 'protection' will be just as quickly circumvented. there is no technological panacea that will keep your child safe because that is not how predation happens in the real world.
- azalemeth 5y agoI can't agree with this more. As a child, my technology skills were several orders of magnitude greater than my parents -- and the horrible spyware the school installed on its computers was a red rag saying "crack me" to a rapidly growing bull. These measures, arguably well-intentioned though they are, fundamentally teach kids that they don't own their devices and it's okay to spy on people. Good parenting is fundamentally different from that.
- tekknik 5y agoSomewhat related. In my HS computer science class all it took was asking the teacher to use her computer to format a floppy because “my floppy drive was broken” and i needed a new disk. She agreed and not 15 mins later i had my workstation booting with no management or oversight.
- simondotau 5y agoThis was certainly our experience when we were children. Near universal, I'd wager. But I don't think it's nearly as true for parents born in the eighties and nineties. And to the extent that it might be true, it's still not a valid excuse for objecting to the existence of any such tools.
- lenkite 5y agoNot true today. Thanks to locked-down and dumbed-down smartphones, Many parents of the PC-era are actually more tech-inclined than their children
- mijamo 5y agoI would have you know that in some countries this would be illegal. A child has a right to private conversation just like any other person in many law systems. And yes it is obviously a spyware. The report phishing analogy is also completely wrong because it does not include any surveillance. You report the phishing and send the message to some authority. It is the same as going to the police after receiving a threatening mail, whereas the spyware is like the postal service opening each of your letters.
- simondotau 5y agoYou appear to be confused, or conflating this with something else. None of that describes the system Apple has implemented for iMessage. If the child doesn't want the adult to see anything, that's a choice available to the child.