Google to pay at least $19m in settlement over in-app purchases by children

Here are some reasons why people might not want children to play with their phone: They don’t want them to accidentally call their boss. They don’t want them to become mindless phone addicts like they are. Also, they don’t want get stuck with a costly bill for digital coins, virtual lives and other video game perks that cost real-world money.

Last week Google became the latest mobile company to settle a Federal Trade Commission complaint that asserts it rang up millions in unfair charges made by children using mobile apps on Android devices.

In a news release, the commission said Google has agreed to give full refunds to the many people who had children ring up app charges without their permission. Google’s minimum payment will be $19 million (€14.74 million). It also agreed to tweak password policies so that children can’t make purchases the phone’s owner has not agreed to.

Mobile apps and video games are often free to download, but that doesn’t mean they’re free. Charges for apps downloaded from Google’s Play Store can hit $200.

The problem is that once a user has put their credit card information in, Google – which handles the transactions for in-app purchases, and takes a 30 per cent cut – didn’t ask its mobile customers to re-authorise additional transactions.

In January, Apple made a similar settlement for a minimum of $32.5 million and Amazon is fighting a complaint filed in July. – (New York Times)