Google agrees to record fine for violating children’s privacy

[OfTheCross]

Google agreed to pay a $170 million fine and overhaul privacy policies on YouTube after regulators said the company illegally gathered data on underage users and allowed advertisers to use the information to target children with advertisements, regulators announced Wednesday.

Regulators said YouTube, which is owned by Google, gathered data on users under the age of 13, a violation under COPPA.

In addition to the fine, Google and YouTube agreed to develop a system requiring users to designate their videos as being geared toward children. The companies will also train employees who work with content providers in COPPA compliance. And they will obtain parental consent before collecting or disclosing any data on underage users, regulators said.

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I know that there's a YouTube Kids app.  Google should just make it so that any child under 13 has to use that app. If they use the adult YouTube, they agree to have their data mined

[Sighlass]

I am tempted to make an account and enter the age of 10... just to attempt to keep my data more secure... Right now, I have no public pictures/posts other than the required avatar picture which I requested NO one comment upon (being they can be followed back to the person commenting). All security things are set friends only or NoOne. I view the page as someone else views it and see only my profile pics with No comments. No friends shown, no pages liked, bands, places visited.