Kids!

Elle's game

Elle got that little electronic hand held game from my parents for her birthday. She loves it. It is wonderful in the car. She doesn't acknowledge the world much less complain about the trip taking so long. OK, that makes it good for us.

It talks to her and shows her how to manipulate a virtual world through the controls. This is an important modern skill. I've noticed her speech has improved. I'm not sure how or if the game is responsible. Nat and I correct her speaking. We try to teach her. The school she is in seems to do wonders. I'm so glad Elle has that opportunity. It is giving her a huge leg-up for school.

Elle's Computer

Now Elle calls her computer her "old computer" now. She says things like "I need to check my email." Never mind neither of her computers are internet capable at the moment. It's going to stay that way for a while.

I have the ability to control her computer. I can set the system up so I can log in and find out what is going on. I cannot, to my knowledge, control places like MySpace or Facebook yet. What I want to do is allow her to control the account, but not be able to change the password.  I want administrative rights over her account until she is 18 or so. They need a parent's account.

The trouble with parenting controls is that none of these places verify identity before they let you open a totally new account. I can't stop Elle from eventually creating a new account from a different computer without any approval from Nat or myself.

I want Elle to have access to these places, but I want the ability to monitor and guide her without worrying that she can just bypass all my efforts without any one caring to take the time to check that she is under age.

Liability

Typing up the bit about no one knowing people's real identities online made me think about a scenario.

There are a lot of states that don't let children under specific ages to enter a contract. I've heard 16 in Texas, but I'm not sure.  What are the rules for opening a credit card account online? I've heard you have to enter a bunch of ID numbers and such.

If a twelve or thirteen year old is able to fake the numbers and manages to get a credit card, will they be held accountable for the charges if the guardians cannot be linked to the crime? Has a crime even been committed? Surly, fraud, but is the burden of proof on the credit card company to prove that the original contract was legal and then violated?