My OperaKids and mobile phones
Friday, August 21, 2009 4:01:51 AM
It's common now that children have mobile phones so the parents can always get in touch with them. Kids down to 1st or 2nd grade have them, but there have been some cases recently that ought to make parents consider some things before they equip their youngsters with phones.
One of the cases I think of is about 13 year old Sandra, who recently managed to spend 6,000DKK (800Eur) in 3 months. Not on ringtones and wallpapers for the phone, but on virtual things for a virtual horse she kept online. 
The family discovered it after the first month, but it took their phone provider 2 extra months to close down the service. And during that time, Sandra just kept on spending money.
Another case is about 10 year old Astrid, who spent 1,500DKK (200Eur) in 3 weeks, also on virtual gear for a virtual horse. In this case the company has a rule that says that you can only spend 150DKK (20Eur) a week if you're under 16 years old, 250DKK (35Eur) if you're between 16 and 18 years old, and there's no limits if you're over 18.
When the 10-year old made her profile, she wrote her real age. First time she bumped into the 150DKK-limit, she went in and changed her age to 19, and the limit was gone with a click of the mouse.
The parents have to pay the company in both these cases. I went to the website, which is Danish, but owned by a Swedish company. They have a sub-site for the parents, but honestly - it doesn't say much, and is not clear enough, and besides - the info box is cut off in the middle of a sentence. So perhaps it's all the interesting stuff that's missing, who knows.
Don't the companies who sell things that aren't really there, virtual things, have some kind of responsibility? I mean - I know it's business, but still, they're selling some stuff that doesn't really exists to minors!
I think the problem could be solved by refusing to let these companies charge for their services over the phone. I don't think many parents would just let their kids use their credit cards. Please let me hear what you think about this.
One of the cases I think of is about 13 year old Sandra, who recently managed to spend 6,000DKK (800Eur) in 3 months. Not on ringtones and wallpapers for the phone, but on virtual things for a virtual horse she kept online. The family discovered it after the first month, but it took their phone provider 2 extra months to close down the service. And during that time, Sandra just kept on spending money.
Another case is about 10 year old Astrid, who spent 1,500DKK (200Eur) in 3 weeks, also on virtual gear for a virtual horse. In this case the company has a rule that says that you can only spend 150DKK (20Eur) a week if you're under 16 years old, 250DKK (35Eur) if you're between 16 and 18 years old, and there's no limits if you're over 18.
When the 10-year old made her profile, she wrote her real age. First time she bumped into the 150DKK-limit, she went in and changed her age to 19, and the limit was gone with a click of the mouse.
The parents have to pay the company in both these cases. I went to the website, which is Danish, but owned by a Swedish company. They have a sub-site for the parents, but honestly - it doesn't say much, and is not clear enough, and besides - the info box is cut off in the middle of a sentence. So perhaps it's all the interesting stuff that's missing, who knows.
Don't the companies who sell things that aren't really there, virtual things, have some kind of responsibility? I mean - I know it's business, but still, they're selling some stuff that doesn't really exists to minors!
I think the problem could be solved by refusing to let these companies charge for their services over the phone. I don't think many parents would just let their kids use their credit cards. Please let me hear what you think about this.
(39%)
der WandersmannderWandersmann # Friday, August 21, 2009 4:12:43 AM
KittyliciousZaphira # Friday, August 21, 2009 4:27:08 AM
Angelikiellinidata # Friday, August 21, 2009 4:29:45 AM
programed ahead by parents/phone company,
of course that is not the idea a 13 year old will have,
but parents are in charge,
and they have to realize that a phone is like an open door to strangers to their house , savings too ...
see what happened to this teen :
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/20/monitoring.kids.cellphones/index.html
thanks for saring
der WandersmannderWandersmann # Friday, August 21, 2009 4:43:38 AM
Stardancer # Friday, August 21, 2009 5:26:35 AM
I don't even have a cellphone.
They're just not that necessary.
MarikeMarike79 # Friday, August 21, 2009 5:37:31 AM
Dacotah # Friday, August 21, 2009 6:04:30 AM
Angeliki, interesting link.
Bad WolfCois # Friday, August 21, 2009 6:08:44 AM
Spaggyj # Friday, August 21, 2009 7:47:03 AM
I think that the thing Ellinidata mentioned should be implemented everywhere - a block on all numbers (and services) other than the ones the parents okay.
53north # Friday, August 21, 2009 8:57:20 AM
Dark FurieFurie # Friday, August 21, 2009 10:05:13 AM
The second kid did exactly what all kids will do when they hit their limit on a service, and what the company is counting on to get money. After all, why on earth would they allow someone to change their age or date or birth so easily? It's easy to auto-update those things on profiles so the only reason they'd make it that easy to change it is to allow kids to break their terms and conditions and get as much money as possible from them.
Preprogrammed phones are really a pile of crap. Kids want something good looking, not something that looks like it's made from Lego. I've asked companies to bring out good looking but cheap phones, with advanced parental controls before now. A simple passcode to enter in each phonebook entry that will open the entry to allow outgoing calls or messages to that number. Different parental settings to turn outgoing calls and messages on, off or limited to activated phonebook controls.
Oh, any country and any network a parent can specify that a phone is for a child and have the service limited to a certain amount of money. Call barring can be activated, text service can be limited to a certain amount of messages and data services can be turned off. They're supposed to block premium text services too but I've never seen that happen without the network throwing a hissy fit.
Dark FurieFurie # Friday, August 21, 2009 10:07:05 AM
Not that necessary... *shakes head sadly*
Cleanclean # Friday, August 21, 2009 10:12:37 AM
I mean, I know that most phones have internet capability these days, but hooking up to an ISP is a deliberate thing which the parents couldn't have done without being aware of it, surely ...
Dark FurieFurie # Friday, August 21, 2009 10:43:52 AM
Without real parental controls you're stuck with dealing with an increasingly condescending and unhelpful network while you try to protect your children. And if you do finally get them to block everything harmful they'll still send their own "Get the number 1 chart track as a ringtone" message which charges you £1.50 per message in payment, three to five messages a week with them continually being sent as buying it has signed you up to a subscription service.
KittyliciousZaphira # Friday, August 21, 2009 10:47:21 AM
I think the phone should have been taken from the first kid right after it was discovered that she spend that amount of money in the first place, but her mom was alone with her and a ... umm... pensionist (?) at early age, so probably not the brightest.
I'd like that it wasn't possible to buy that expensive things via sms!
Dark FurieFurie # Friday, August 21, 2009 11:17:08 AM
Premium text messages are the bane of all phone owners. When Kim and I first joined here we were looking for free mobile games and one of the sites we visited held on to Kim's number (taken from it's server and not asked for) and started to send occasional messages out that'd take credit from her in return for a porn link, and the network refused to block them as she might have asked for them. Cheeky fucks. Kim's gran got caught by another premium texts trick recently. She was bored and did an IQ test online, entering her phone number for the results. It was then that the payment messages started coming through and wiped her credit out.
They get away with this stuff because the transactions are normally too small for people to bother complaining about. If everyone complained to their local authority about the slightest problem these businesses would be shut down in no time and it wouldn't be worth them starting up under another name.
Matthewnoah counte # Friday, August 21, 2009 1:15:56 PM
Jurjenjekav # Friday, August 21, 2009 2:46:48 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuBkSlSExjQ
I think young kids (under age 12) shouldn't really need a phone. After that age, kids should be smart enough to learn that somethings costs money and you cannot use it. Warn them and educate about it, check them occasionally if its going all alright. It would be a good lesson.
I know that a lot of adults make the same mistakes...
MinaMinenow # Friday, August 21, 2009 4:28:29 PM
And I'll tell her yes, when she can afford it on her own. (Like just a phone, no net, pay as you go type of deal) My nephew has one he pays for at twelve.
Weird tho, to think of kids having bills before graduating from high school. I can only hope it teaches responsibility.
Gavin Tripp-Sheedygarlingmatthews # Friday, August 21, 2009 4:37:58 PM
In sweden, if a kid is under a certain age, they can't enter into a contract; Jamba, the ringtones subscription company, has had to hand back a ton of money.
53north # Friday, August 21, 2009 6:30:03 PM
Dacotah # Friday, August 21, 2009 7:04:38 PM
Spaggyj # Friday, August 21, 2009 7:20:23 PM
53north # Friday, August 21, 2009 7:21:09 PM
Spaggyj # Friday, August 21, 2009 7:27:20 PM
Cleanclean # Friday, August 21, 2009 10:21:57 PM
We get those ridiculous ads over here, too. Basically, if you can get it online for free (though why you'd bother - even at that price - I have no idea), someone out there is willing to charge for it, as well as the following six messages (sorry, 'services') per week at a cost of $5.50 per message (sorry, 'service'). But it's okay, because it costs the same amount to text 'STOP' as well. So many people don't realize that the 'cool' ringtone that seems free (or, at least, really cheap) can cost at least $30!
I don't know about anyone else, but the Crazy Frog made me want to throw my TV through the wall; I certainly didn't want to download it as a ringtone ...
And of course, anyone with an ounce of computer savvy knows that a combination of Audacity and a bluetooth connection will give them a specific song as a ringtone ...
Stardancer # Friday, August 21, 2009 11:28:55 PM
Originally posted by Furie:
Takes a bow.
Angelikiellinidata # Saturday, August 22, 2009 12:59:20 AM
Suntana # Sunday, August 23, 2009 12:08:35 AM
I don't even have a Cell Phone and have never had one. Heck, even up to my Senior year in High School, in my family we didn't even have a phone PERIOD! So, I think it's ridiculous that now 1st and 2nd Graders have Cell Phones.
Angelikiellinidata # Sunday, August 23, 2009 12:56:18 AM
Originally posted by Suntana:
sadly some are addicted to it
and make their business
to free the rest of us
from paying their food and medical bills ,
they are up most of the night to "harvest".
Yes, it is free for them but not for us....
I just say to them "harvest some brains! "
r♡serose-marie # Saturday, August 29, 2009 4:57:22 PM
I especially can't stand the ads for ringtones, wallpapers and stuff where it's impossible to see that if you download any of it, you're starting a subscription for 50 NOK / week.
Parental control sounds good, until the kids find out how to override it.
Mad Scientistqlue # Sunday, August 30, 2009 5:04:39 PM
Although I didn't have that with MTN.
Besides, a contract phone implies that it's registered to an adult. Children can't enter into that type of contract. vodacom also sells a parents contract that comes with one or more children's phones that don't have a full keypad. Instead, they have several 'speeddials' that are programmed from the parent's phone. It allows a call to emergency 112 services or two other speed dick numbers.
And any prepaid sim card can be registered as a sponsored call to your contract phone. These are simple ways to controll your child's phone usage. Also, every phone I've seen allows a special 'phonebook' of five numbers that are seperate from the main contacts list. You can lock the phone to these five numbers thus preventing calls to numbers not on that list. (but it doesn't limit SMS's though.
Gavin Tripp-Sheedygarlingmatthews # Sunday, August 30, 2009 5:09:37 PM