Study Says Lots Of Kids Are Making Sneaky Purchases Online With Parents' Cookied Credit Card Info
from the cookies-are-for-kids dept
Plenty of online shopping sites let customers store their credit card info to make it easier to purchase stuff in the future. And, for most home users, that is a convenient feature -- as it seems unlikely that a third party would access your computer and use your credit cards to order stuff. Except, apparently, a lot of parents forget about their kids being able to do that. A study in the UK found that plenty of kids were buying stuff online without their parents' knowledge or approval, using the stored credit card info on certain web shopping sites. Of course, if parents checked over their credit card statements regularly (or received the packages when delivered), you would think they would notice such activity.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: credit cards, kids, purchases
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Or
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Or
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Easiest Solution ... ?
Parents password protect their logon
Children don't get a password
This allows parents to save all their CC info online without worrying about their kids getting it (or the porn sites dad likes to visit) and parents can get into the kids acount and set filters, check browsing history, or anything else they feel like doing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Easiest Solution ... ?
A.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
emailed order acknowledgements?
So this isn't really a problem at all, now is it?
Smells like FUD to me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: emailed order acknowledgements?
In hindsight I'd say they did the right thing, they just didn't emphasis the whole debate aspect of the Senate/House of Representatives. The whole point to the Senate was to do nothing but debate over the laws. Instead you get jackasses who vote yes on proposition X because their party says so or their church says so rather than stepping back and think what would be best for the country as a whole.
Worse still, some of these yahoos think that they ARE thinking about what would be best for the country as a whole by doing so!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: emailed order acknowledgements?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: emailed order acknowledgements?
If the parents saved credit cards on websites, and presumably passwords in their cookies, there is also a good chance that they cache/save the passwords for their email accounts. The kid could just simply place the order, wait a few minutes, and delete the email.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: emailed order acknowledgements?
And it doesn't help to look at the bill much since some stores online use a third party to process the payment.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sneaky Purchases
What has happened to parents who actually parent?? These sound like the same type of parents who allow their 10 year old to watch horror and R rated movies and then can't understand why they are scared all the time. They let them listen to explicit lyrics and can't understand why they cuss like a sailor. They let their teenage daughters date and don't check up on the kid, family or where they are going and wonder why they are pregnant.
How about making some commons sense decisions for your children. We can't expect children to parent themselves!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Sneaky Purchases
I agree with you completely. From when I started driving until I was stable with a good credit record, my parents provided me with a credit card for emergencies. I did not have to pre-justify use of it, but I did have to pay it off if it wasn't something they would have paid for anyways. I never abused it (despite constant pressure from peers to just charge a few pizzas for "the game") and I think it taught me good money management skills as I still only have one credit card in my name, and generally maintain a $0 balance on it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nah...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
hmmm
My kids and wife each have their own login and I never leave the PC unlocked while logged in.
They have all been taught not to allow anyone to use their login and to always log off when finished.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: hmmm
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: hmmm
Why do you think that ?
Sounds more like an anal retentive helicopter parent.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
@Earl
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Very Bad Idea
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cookies with credit card numbers? I don't think so.
Cookies identify the user and store information about their use of the website. They're marketing tools.
Conclusion 1: A cookie will trigger a website to recognize a user. It does not supply credit card data.
Conclusion 2: Hey parents! Set up individual password protected USER ACCOUNTS on your computer! That's basic computing security. Then you don't have to worry about the kids. Oh, and don't forget to set up the kids' accounts so they have no permission to change their password. That way you won't get locked out and can keep track of their net behavior.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lack of responsability
For some reason, my younger siblings ended up differently. They sit around all day and do nothing. This is the issue with todays society. Its hard to define what is the cause of this, but if life doesnt get really tough for everybody real soon, no one will be able to think for themselves.
sigh
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Even the way people talk about parents should know to password protect their account. Thats like saying you need to keep your cash in a safe in your own house, or you should know better than to leave a few hundred bucks lying on your bedroom dresser. Unless your kids a drug addict there's no reason you should have to hide all your valuables in your own house from your own kids! Sheesh.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cow Level
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
.kids...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]