[byjove]

It's the law:

http://www.coppa.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Online_Privacy_Prote...

[salehenrahman]

Given that, maybe Google should force users under the age of 13 to fill out an online form that has the parent's consent on it. Although, this might not stop some to forge information on it, at least, Google can remain in compliance under the law this way.

Or so I think.

[67726e]

The law states that a site may collect information with the consent of the child's parents. That is fairly innocuous. The problem is that Google scuttles the account and thus the Chromebook.

[drivingmissm]

The law goes a lot further than that, the law prevents Google from marketing to children, so it would have to disable ALL of its marketing and tracking programs for children's accounts. It is reasonable for Google to scuttle the account instead, these services are not intended for children.

[intelliot]

Indeed. This problem is caused by the U.S. Government, not Google.

So more accurately: A US Federal Law Made My Daughter Cry

[anarchy8]

That's not correct. More likely, they were too lazy to be COPA compliant.

[jellicle]

Which part of the law do you think requires Google to do this?

(Hint: the answer is there is no such part.)

[vacri]

The part that makes it onerous for Google to do it. Laws don't have to explicitly forbid activity to shape it.