With millions of kids going back to school in September, their movements are frequently tracked by parents.

The idea of digitally surveilling kids is a tricky one. Keen parents seem largely oblivious to the institutional concerns about the practice trib.al/h0I0qfW
.@parmy talked with about a dozen British parents sending their 11-year-olds to secondary school with phones.

About three-quarters said they would monitor their child’s movements through an app of some sort, largely for safety reasons trib.al/SOm7D7w Image
Various institutions aren’t fans of parents tracking their kids' phones.

Ireland’s data protection regulator says in its draft guidance that geolocation tracking should be turned off “by default for child users” trib.al/SOm7D7w Image
If a parent and child each have an iPhone and set them to share locations, either one can tap on the recipient’s name in a text message and see where they are on a map at any time.

There are also separate apps for tracking a family member’s location trib.al/SOm7D7w
Two academics in the field of digital privacy and children said they weren’t aware of studies that looked into how GPS monitoring might impact the relationship between a parent and child trib.al/SOm7D7w Image
It’s unclear what monitoring a child's phone might do to their:

➡️ Sense of identity
➡️ Development
➡️ Capacity to make independent choices trib.al/SOm7D7w Image
There’s a risk a child's location data could fall into the hands of companies or governments down the line, says @ingridamilkaite, a data protection researcher at Belgium’s @ugent trib.al/SOm7D7w
.@lorrietweet, a @CarnegieMellon public policy professor, recommends parents talk to their kids about GPS tracking, and make sure to get their consent to do it at all.

“Secret tracking is usually not a good idea” trib.al/SOm7D7w Image
📱 If turning tracking off completely feels too much like unbuckling a child’s seat belt, @lorrietweet says one way forward is to use apps that only do so in limited circumstances trib.al/SOm7D7w Image
As for when to stop tracking your kids, Google has a suggestion: age 13. At that point, a child who uses an Android phone synced to Google’s Family Link can turn off location monitoring by their parents trib.al/SOm7D7w

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More from @bopinion

21 Sep
Eighteen months into the pandemic, we’re entering a new phase. While we have better Covid protection from vaccines and natural antibodies, we’re also returning to high risk environments like night clubs and offices.

What does that mean for face masks? trib.al/ntQaaQY
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Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean ditching masks entirely. Instead, it’s time to get tactical trib.al/ntQaaQY Image
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Transmission is most reduced when an infected person wears a mask. But wearing a mask also protects you from getting the virus.

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Young people are especially eager to move in trib.al/0SEiY77 Image
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This technology could lead to widespread adoption in a market largely dependent on subsidies trib.al/vdv96sd
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This makes them a better long-term investment trib.al/vdv96sd Image
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This would provide a cheaper, faster-charging and safe alternative to the current crop on offer trib.al/vdv96sd Image
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Never ones to miss a chance to cry “hardship,” upper-middle-class, well-educated young Americans are getting in on the Chinese “lie flat” social protest movement, claiming they, too, are burned out and quitting their jobs to do nothing trib.al/e5rjiys
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So some Chinese millennials formed a movement to opt out of work and the pressures of society trib.al/e5rjiys
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That’s a lot of people with no immediate way to support themselves and their families trib.al/pK04k9j
What would Franklin Roosevelt — who put America to work during the Great Depression — make of the way Washington has responded to this economic crisis? twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…
The New Deal’s attack on the Great Depression had four main components:

💵Temporary direct relief for the impoverished
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trib.al/pK04k9j
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Her victory in the U.S. Open turned her into one of those athletes who you can’t help but watch and want to know more, or even pick up a racquet trib.al/VKDcbjm
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🇨🇳Chinese mother
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🇬🇧Raised in Britain
🇺🇸Shot to fame in the U.S.
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