Anyone else who would be uncomfortable opting your child into location, behavior and health surveillance by the world's largest advertising company?
This product concerns me not only due to corporate advertising surveillance but also parental spying.
People raised children for 1000s of years without any technology. I bet we can do that too.
Something for us to think about, though.
> People raised children for 1000s of years without any technology. I bet we can do that too.
Depending on the person, the answer you expect might not be the actual answer you get...
To me, someone who wants to track their kid's location 24/7 in real time sounds rather anxious - unless their kid has a history of drug abuse.
My child has more freedom now, because I can let her walk further from home, unsupervised, to see if a friend can play - because she can immediately text me and let me know she's staying at the friend's house for the next few hours. She no longer has to wait for me to be ready to walk with her.
She can text me if she wants to be picked up from aftercare early. Or if she wants to stay later. Or if she wants to make plans for afterwards with a friend.
I don't mean to dismiss your concerns, they're valid. But this question also varies hugely with age. It would feel very odd tracking every step of my child's life if they were 16; it's different if they're 8.
Do you know anyone who grew up in a big city in the same era? I do. They didn't experience the same type of freedoms. Their parents were much more concerned about crime/kidnapping/"the boogey man".
Perhaps this is also influenced by the number of expats in the larger cities and those people are unsure of the safety/normalcy aspect and tend to lean towards caution? I'd be interested to see some data!
> the number of expats in the larger cities
You came home from school, watched tv, did whatever, then around three, parents would start coming home, so we (the kids) went out, you knew approximately when dinner would be ready to go home and eat, and that was it. The playgrounds, benches, basketball courts, etc., where full of kids and noone really cared. Sometimes when someone was needed at home, a mom would yell his name through the window, and someone heard it and told someone else, and than that third person knew where that kid was and told him that his mom is looking for him, and the kid went home (usually to eat, or if some relative came to visit).
The person you're responding to is talking about the location "sharing" feature, where the watch constantly reports the kids location to their parents without the kid doing anything.
It's usually end-to-end encrypted.
I prefer Apple because it’s not nearly as bad. And I like having a phone and laptop.
I'd argue that children have less stake in privacy than adults. How Google knowing location of my kids could possibly affect them?
it'll be used against them, personally
If you opt your kid into surveillance capitalism, you are the worst type of scum.
Remember it was once legal and common to buy children tobacco products.
If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.