
Parents start by downloading the Google Family Link app from the Google Play store, which they use to create a “family manager” account to create and manage accounts for their kids. Parents also needs their own Google account. That small fee isn’t to enrich Google but to prove that a credit card owner (by law an adult) has approved the child’s account.
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Parents also need a valid credit or debit card to pay a 30 cent verification fee. He service will later allow the parent to use an iOS device to manage their children’s accounts and may eventually allow kids to log on via the web. Instead they can sign up for Family Link, which allows parents to create Google accounts for children under 13. Now young children and their parents don’t have to lie to create a Google account.

And, according to a 2011 study, many children do so with parental permission or assistance. In the meantime, millions of kids have created accounts on Facebook, Google’s YouTube, Snapchat and other services, simply by lying about their age. Though it’s always been possible to get parental consent, most services comply with the law by simply prohibiting kids under 13, because the collection and verification process is cumbersome and expensive. The Children’s Online Privacy Act (COPPA), which went into effect in 2000, requires verifiable parental consent before a site or online service can collect or use personal information from kids under 13, and it’s virtually impossible to offer many services – especially social networking or email - without collecting some personal information.

Google is testing out a new service called Family Link, and it’s a big deal because it’s the first time this century that a major internet service provider is enrolling users under 13. This post first appeared in the Mercury News
