Windows 10: Why Hasn't the US or the EU Sued Microsoft Yet For Lack of Win 10 Parental Controls

CharlieBitMe · May 6, 2020

If a parent wants to enable basic content and/or computer usage controls, they're forced to register an email account with Microsoft. Currently in Windows 10, it's impossible to enable any sort of parental controls without the compulsory email account registration step.

Microsoft has locked and disabled commenting for all community forum threads which complain about this same issue. What a coincidence.

When will US and EU law makers get some free and easy money from Microsoft, for effectively forcing parents to register email accounts for their kids if they want to enable basic parental controls functionality? So if my 5-yo wants to watch a Dora video, they must be chipped and tagged with a Microsoft email account? The Stasi don't have anything on Microsoft.

:)

Brink · May 6, 2020

New Microsoft children accounts EU GDPR parental consent verifications

Microsoft continues on its steady path toward compliance with the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Today we are announcing new parental consent requirements for accounts held by children in the EU. We are instituting these requirements across our product platforms to meet GDPR requirements, well in advance of the May 25 deadline, to afford our customers the time needed to verify their accounts and authorize any necessary consent.

Where a controller is relying on consent to process personal data, the GDPR requires parents to provide their consent to process personal data of children younger than 16 years old. EU member states may choose to set a lower age – which some have done – provided it isn’t lower than age 13. To implement parental consent requirement in the GDPR, Microsoft is relying on the high standards afforded under the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to verify parental consent for children’s accounts across our product platforms. We have already started to roll out the necessary notifications to our users in many EU member states. We will complete the rollout by the end of April.

Using COPPA processes, we will prompt existing users to provide their country and date of birth. Users who are younger than the age of consent for their country will then be prompted for parental consent when they sign into their account during a short grace period. To verify their child’s account, parents will need to use a credit or debit card, or other payment instrument, for a 50-cent charge which will be credited toward an existing Microsoft account. This nominal charge also offers parents an extra step of protection to be aware of any misuse when reviewing their card statement. Parents who cannot, or choose not, to go through this process can also contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to verify age and identity based on appropriate government documents.

After the grace period, the child’s account will be blocked until the parent completes the consent and verification process. Microsoft will continue to support data subject rights for children whose accounts are blocked pending parental consent. For new users, Microsoft will block final creation of the account until the parent provides consent within two weeks, after which the account will be deleted.

While we appreciate these new GDPR requirements may cause some temporary inconveniences, verifying that an adult is giving their child permission to use an account is an important component of Microsoft’s effort to help children explore technology safely. We also encourage parents to use this as an opportunity to review their child’s account content, screen time and monitoring settings by visiting account.microsoft.com/family.
Click to expand...

Source: Microsoft begins new EU GDPR parental consent verifications for children's accounts - Microsoft on the Issues

Tip How to Add or Remove a Child Account for Your Microsoft Family in Windows 10

Brink · May 6, 2020

New Microsoft children accounts EU GDPR parental consent verifications

Microsoft continues on its steady path toward compliance with the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Today we are announcing new parental consent requirements for accounts held by children in the EU. We are instituting these requirements across our product platforms to meet GDPR requirements, well in advance of the May 25 deadline, to afford our customers the time needed to verify their accounts and authorize any necessary consent.

Where a controller is relying on consent to process personal data, the GDPR requires parents to provide their consent to process personal data of children younger than 16 years old. EU member states may choose to set a lower age – which some have done – provided it isn’t lower than age 13. To implement parental consent requirement in the GDPR, Microsoft is relying on the high standards afforded under the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to verify parental consent for children’s accounts across our product platforms. We have already started to roll out the necessary notifications to our users in many EU member states. We will complete the rollout by the end of April.

Using COPPA processes, we will prompt existing users to provide their country and date of birth. Users who are younger than the age of consent for their country will then be prompted for parental consent when they sign into their account during a short grace period. To verify their child’s account, parents will need to use a credit or debit card, or other payment instrument, for a 50-cent charge which will be credited toward an existing Microsoft account. This nominal charge also offers parents an extra step of protection to be aware of any misuse when reviewing their card statement. Parents who cannot, or choose not, to go through this process can also contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to verify age and identity based on appropriate government documents.

After the grace period, the child’s account will be blocked until the parent completes the consent and verification process. Microsoft will continue to support data subject rights for children whose accounts are blocked pending parental consent. For new users, Microsoft will block final creation of the account until the parent provides consent within two weeks, after which the account will be deleted.

While we appreciate these new GDPR requirements may cause some temporary inconveniences, verifying that an adult is giving their child permission to use an account is an important component of Microsoft’s effort to help children explore technology safely. We also encourage parents to use this as an opportunity to review their child’s account content, screen time and monitoring settings by visiting account.microsoft.com/family.
Click to expand...

Source: Microsoft begins new EU GDPR parental consent verifications for children's accounts - Microsoft on the Issues

Tip How to Add or Remove a Child Account for Your Microsoft Family in Windows 10

Arul_D · May 6, 2020

Parental Controls aren't working

Hi,

The issue could be because of corrupted files. I suggest you to delete the corrupted files yourself and see if it helps

to resolve the issue, please follow these steps:

1) Make sure your children are signed out of any monitored accounts.

2) Sign in with an administrator account and find the folder that contains the corrupted files.

There are two ways to do this. The easiest way is to enter the complete file path:

On the Start screen, type C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Parental Controls and press Enter.

If you’d rather open each folder individually, follow these steps:

a. Go to This PC

b. Open C:, open the
ProgramData folder, open the Microsoft folder, open the
Windows folder, and open the Parental Controls folder.

3) Delete all contents of the Parental Controls folder.

This will delete any corrupt files. Your settings will be downloaded again from familysafety.microsoft.com the next time you sign in.

Hope it helps. Reply with the result and I'll be happy to help you further. Thank you

Windows 10: Why Hasn't the US or the EU Sued Microsoft Yet For Lack of Win 10 Parental Controls

Why Hasn't the US or the EU Sued Microsoft Yet For Lack of Win 10 Parental Controls

Why Hasn't the US or the EU Sued Microsoft Yet For Lack of Win 10 Parental Controls

Why Hasn't the US or the EU Sued Microsoft Yet For Lack of Win 10 Parental Controls

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