The fact they can figure out my kids’ ages based on their online behavior, and through their tracking and monitoring is fucking chilling. They don’t even use Gmail often at all.
They don’t have these checks in place for the fun of it. They’re usually legally mandated, otherwise some parent will sue them because “Google exposed my child to X Y or Z”
[1] https://support.google.com/families/answer/7106787?hl=en
And yet they are so fallible in their other forms of detection like fraud that lock people out of their accounts. The entire thing is creepy and maddening at the same time.
I think their system just blindly classifies every account as minor unless they purchase something.
You don’t see the problem with this?
See also, the millions of cookie banners that infest every web page because of the EU.
Government regulation is an attempt to make people aware this tracking exists: every time you see a wall, that means the site requires a level of tracking for which there exists no legal basis other than consent, thus it has to ask you if you're okay with that (like any ethical site should do anyhow).
Automated decision making is also part of GDPR but unfortunately is very very weakly implemented. Basically, companies just have to tell you it exists (if and only if it has a significant impact on your life), and then your only recourse is to request a human in the loop, and they will just press the same button as the AI did and you have no idea if they even looked at your case because the decision making doesn't have to be transparent. And that's only for important life things, none of this even applies to being banned from google account unless you sue them and get the judge to agree this has a major impact on your life.
How is any of the GDPR actually working out? Has it made a difference? Has it made the web better or worse?
As far as depending on Google - don’t?
It's not about using cookies
Have they made browsing the internet better? Have they decreased tracking?