Every week e-safety adviser Alan Mackenzie sends me weekly updates. They are useful teaching resources but also parent guides to keep you up to date with current trends.
Here are a few tips from this week’s updates:
Google – Under 13’s Supervised Accounts
Google have once again found themselves in murky waters. You may be aware that a parent can create a Google account for under 13’s, thereby letting Google know that this is a young child and therefore restrict some services. That account is supervised, it is managed by the parent, so far so good.
But until last week I didn’t know that on the child’s 13th birthday (in accordance with the DOB entered at the account creation stage), the child is sent an email from Google basically saying that they are old enough to turn off supervision, giving them instructions how to do so, and WITHOUT informing their parents, overriding any parental decision.
I only know this because I saw a post on LinkedIn, that post went viral and was picked up by the media. To be fair to Google they responded very quickly, but only due to public outcry, and the decision to turn off parental supervision is now firmly in the hands of parents, yet the policy to not empower parents with the decision has been in place for years, astonishing!
It might be worth letting your parents know about this, a lot of parents I speak to don’t know that there is an under 13’s option, and they definitely won’t know if their child has turned 13 and supervision settings have been disabled. I have put some links below to help:
• Create a Google account for your child under 13
• LinkedIn – Google emailed my youngest child today to tell him he is almost 13 and eligible to remove parental controls.
• LinkedIn – Google changes their policy for parental supervision.
What I Wish My Parents or Carers Knew
The Children’s Commissioner has put together a fantastic guide for parents and carers. At around 26 pages it goes into a lot of depth including:
• Screen time.
• When bad things happen.
• Artificial intelligence.
• Conversation starters.
• Actions to take checklist.
• And much more.
Download the Children’s Commissioner – What I wish my parents and carers knew guide, at the bottom of the page you will find a PDF download and an activity pack.
