Children’s Privacy Going Mainstream: Even Google Gets On Board

A couple months ago, I wrote a couple posts about COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act). Last week, USA Today reported that Google is reworking its products to release child appropriate versions. This follows on the heels of the FTC fining Yelp $450,000 for not screening users by age. The cynic in me thinks that Google must find ways to appeal to the next generation of users to avoid becoming another Blackberry smeared on the electronic superhighway. The optimist in me doesn't care why Google went to all the trouble of modifying its products but is really excited that someone is finally leading the way on children's privacy efforts and privacy efforts in general. Besides, Google can afford to devote significant resources to such an endeavor. What about the other 99% of software developers?