
Google Family Link - rinesh
https://families.google.com/familylink/
======
gkop
We don't need better tech for kids, we need better tech for the elderly. Kids
can learn anything. Elderly can really struggle with today's tech.

~~~
soneca
I agree. I have plans to create a site with animated gifs explaining from the
most basic things in computer interface. Things i see my 70yo parents
struggling to achieve/understand:

\- how to close/minimize/maximize/open a window.

\- right click, left click common outcomes

\- enter a site URL

\- Google use

\- save files

\- navegate through local files

Etc

Edit: I know "I have plans" is worth nothing, but I am unemployed right now
and on a carreer change. Once I have better financial stability I plan to
pursue this more effectively.

~~~
tsumnia
To get you to think a little more outside the box - do elderly need
"computers" or "connected devices"? My dad tossed his laptop once he learned
his iPad. Just something to think on. Specific "gestures" can change with tech
- just like 20 years ago when my parents learned how to use a mouse was
different. How do you get elderly people to intuitively use a device?

------
open-source-ux
The privacy implications of this are quite horrible. If you read the Google
privacy notice, you'll see that Google tracks and records the activity of your
child.

[https://families.google.com/familylink/privacy/child-
policy/](https://families.google.com/familylink/privacy/child-policy/)

The reactions in this thread and across the tech community toward Google are
just baffling to me. There is a strong double standard.

Microsoft and Facebook are, quite rightly, criticised and scrutinised over the
amount and the degree of tracking they undertake. Meanwhile, Google, who
capture unimaginably humongous amounts of data on users, escapes any scrutiny.

From ChromeOS (an entire OS that tracks everything you do, and one heavily
used in schools) to GMail and Google Analytics and CDNs, Google's digital
fingerprints can be found in every corner of the web.

It's no longer an exaggeration to say we live in a time when millions of
people are tracked online from childhood to death. This isn't a dystopian
episode of Black Mirror, but real life.

I don't blame ordinary users for not fully understanding the privacy
implications and the myriad and insidious ways they are tracked. But what
excuse does the tech community have for giving Google a free pass on matters
of privacy and online tracking?

~~~
thraway2016
> But what excuse does the tech community have...

You may be confused due to the name of this site. "Hacker News" is not, nor
has it been for a _very_ long time, by and for hackers.

The success of YC has turned this site, and the community around it, into a
money-centric zeitgeist. Marketers, "growth hackers", salespeople, recruiters,
and other forms of greedy, parasitic professions, are now the dominant voice
in the so-called "tech community".

Anything for a buck, even at the expense of privacy and _real_ technological
advancement. That is the mantra of HN.

Perhaps you might want to try Slashdot.

------
neves
To contrast all the bashing comments here, I'd love to have this feature.

I've broke my 20 years long love affair with Linux for Windows 10 just because
their family features.

Technology is addictive, I want my kids to use technology, but not to be
dominated by it. I'm tired of seeing a bunch of kids in a park all around a
phone instead of being running.

Screen time limits is a fundamental feature of any modern Operating System.

~~~
sebastianavina
im pretty sure you can implement in a couple lines a screen time watchdog on
linux.

------
appleflaxen
Given how fickle google has been with their new products, and how much worse
their invasion of my privacy appears as time goes by, this just makes me shake
my head.

there are lots of things google provides that are so valuable that I feel it's
worth the pain of supporting an increasingly crappy company.

but having them track my kids isn't one of them.

yuck.

------
jasonkostempski
I tried this with iOS and regret it on a weekly basis, especially since I
moved myself off iOS and my kid is still using an iPad. I have to keep an old
iPhone around to manage the "Family" account because they don't have a web
management option. Every single time I boot up the phone to approve purchases
there's some issue I have to deal with that takes 20 minutes to resolve
(logged out, cc expired, No SIM card). I wish I had just made him a normal
account and lied about his age. He's already proven he can handle the internet
responsibly and now everything is tied to that account and it can be made into
an "adult" account until he's 13. Hopefully Google does it better.

~~~
twodayslate
The description makes it seem like it is Android only.

~~~
jasonkostempski
I assumed that, I didn't think they'd replace anything on iOS. I've accepted
my fate with that. I'm just saying if they're not doing it better, think about
avoiding it.

------
RhysU
I really wanted this to be something letting my wife and I share digital
assets like we do real assets. Alas. Just take the device away from a kid
using it at night against orders.

~~~
koolba
The lack of access to online accounts is a time bomb waiting to happen. A user
friendly version of
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing)
or some type of multi-sig to handle giving access to all of a persons
accounts[1] will eventually be needed for the general population. Anyone
that's had to deal with this after the passing of a loved one knows how much
of an added pain it can be.

[1]: _At least the ones they want you to access..._

~~~
fredley
LastPass can be configured to automatically share your vault with a nominated
person after (n) days of inactivity, after trying to email you etc.

~~~
ReverseCold
Wait, so it's a password storing service that's not encrypted?

~~~
koolba
I'd be curious to see how they've implemented this. It'd be possible to do
this with cross signing encryption keys so that by supplying their
credentials, they could unlock the keys to unlock your stored passwords

~~~
crdoconnor
Given their previous monumentally bad security hole I wouldn't feel inclined
to trust it.

------
pgrote
Amazon's Kindle Free Time is sensational in controlling what is accessed by
your children. They have a fantastic control of what can be offered and tt
supports multiple age levels and allows you to control what is displayed on a
granular level.

You can also set a time limit for usage throughout the day and even the media
type being consumed.

There is a monthly charge for each child, but well worth it.

~~~
neves
Great. I didn't know about it. My sons are around 10yo, I'm really worried of
them watching Netflix full of 18yo rated movies. Maybe it is time to change to
Amazon for streaming.

------
cryptarch
This sounds like a bad excuse to collect data on children using Android.

"We need to feed your emails to our ad systems so we can give you better ads!"

"We need to know the engagement metrics for children specifically so we can
better target them and do it in a way that is not displeasing to and
counteracted by parents!"

~~~
viraptor
Not sure what it changes, since this data is already available to them. What
they change is making it also available to parents.

The second point is weird, because Google provides only the basic apps. It's
the third parties that would be interested in engagement metrics. And again -
they already have access to them.

~~~
cryptarch
Google owns YouTube and Gmail, both of which are oft used by children and
adults alike.

This adds new data, because now a parent-child link is established, and the
user's "child-status"/age is confirmed by the parent using this tool on them.

~~~
viraptor
Are you trying to say YouTube can't identify children based on their video
history? It's be surprised if they didn't already have an excellent estimation
of child/parent split. We're taking about a company specialising in targeting
user groups.

Sure, there's going to be that one adult guy who does enjoy listening to the
same Frozen song 5 times a day, but that's an acceptable anomaly.

------
lutusp
I want to see a selectable parental option to remove all advertising of any
kind from the content my child sees. Your move, Google.

------
threatofrain
I wonder how Google plans to enforce Family Link, because kids are definitely
smart and motivated enough to create their own Google account. Plus, kids are
connected to a cultural network where they can easily find this information or
ask someone else to do it for them.

------
andrewshadura
I wonder why is it available in US only, and for parents only. It might be
useful for giving Android devices to elderly people as well, who don't
understand the technology well enough.

~~~
theDoug
History shows that a very large portion of Google launches begin in the United
States and then tend to scale outward.

And I agree on the use case for seniors, given this is Family Link but
targeted mostly toward juniors. It's been joked about elsewhere that “Parental
Controls” is to control one's parents.

(Disclosure: I work on Google Cloud Platform)

------
reitanqild
_To get started, you’ll need:

...

To be in the U.S_

At this point I'm past being the surprised by this.

Lawyers recommended it I guess?

I'd think annoying customers was something to worry about too but then again.

~~~
gtirloni
Limited roll out in a market you understand first.

~~~
lillesvin
I don't​ believe for a second that Google doesn't understand most of their
markets. That they choose to ignore them (looking at you, myriad chat apps) is
another issue, but they definitely understand e.g. France or Germany well
enough to start roll-outs there.

Would be nice to see them switch it up a little now and then so everyone​ not
in the US don't have to feel like 2nd class citizens.

~~~
robjan
We have much stricter privacy laws in Europe so perhaps they are piloting in
the US before deciding whether to take the time to make the service compliant
with local regulations.

~~~
reitanqild
Then release in Europe first:

Once they have ironed out the privacy issues here the rolling out to US should
be a nobrainer : )

------
annoying_tech
"\- You must be in the US"

Yet another feature we will never see again, it seems.

------
7ewis
Glad this wasn't around when I was a kid!

------
67726e
Maybe this will inspire a few kids to become a bit more tech savvy in order to
bypass restrictions. That is quite literally why I am where I am today. Nine
year old me wanted to play RuneScape, so I cracked open the computer user
manual and found a backdoor. This started a lifelong trend of exploring
systems and eventually lead to software engineering.

~~~
UweSchmidt
Hardly. Back then we had an atmosphere of freedom and parents didn't
understand things properly. We had root access. Now children are put under
surveillance and can't leave the walled gardens set up by corporations.

~~~
cryptarch
Yeah right, like computers are locked down that tight.

It still takes my 13 year old brother just a few hours to figure out he has to
put the Mac in recovery mode to allow the changing of system files (forgot
what that security theater was called). Most parents haven't suddenly learned
to set BIOS passwords or to protect the admin passwords, and even then, it's
not too hard to burn and boot a disk that removes password checks from an
unencrypted system.

~~~
xg15
Parents don't need to know about root passwords if even they don't have root
access in the first place... (At least that seems to be the strategy on
mobile)

