There
should
be
a
better
enforced
age
limit
on
this
thing.
Back
in
the
day,
the
way
that
gaming
companies
made
their
money
was
easy
to
understand.
You’d
pop
a
few
quarters
or
tokens
in
before
you
were
allowed
to
play
Pac-Man.
As
we
left
the
dark
ages
of
gaming,
you’d
drop
a
lump
sum
on
a
console
and
buy
the
game
separately.
But
companies
like
return
customers,
even
better
if
the
customer
returns
with
money
to
buy
basically
the
same
thing.
There
are
a
couple
ways
to
continue
making
a
post-purchase
buck
—
any
EA
sports
gamer
knows
how
lucrative
the
downloadable
content
(DLC)
to
further
flesh
out
the
game
you
previously
bought
can
be.
Another
way?
You
pull
a
Google
and
sell
the
data
you
glean
from
your
customers.
That
information
collection
is
a
nuisance,
but
hey
—
we’re
all
adults
and
know
what’s
going
on,
right?
Well,
no.
And
after
being
taken
to
task
for
their
lackluster
security
measures,
Microsoft
is
out
$20M.
From
Law360:
On
Monday,
the
federal
government
filed
a
complaint
in
federal
court
alleging
that
Microsoft
broke
the
law
by
collecting
personal
information
from
children
who
signed
up
to
its
Xbox
gaming
system
without
notifying
their
parents
or
obtaining
their
parents’
consent,
and
by
illegally
retaining
children’s
personal
information.The
government
alleged
that
from
2015
until
at
least
October
2020,
Microsoft
indefinitely
retained
personal
information
from
about
10
million
individuals,
including
children,
when
users
created
Xbox
Live
accounts.Microsoft
allegedly
retained
personal
information
from
children
longer
than
necessary,
“putting
children’s
data
at
risk
for
uses
outside
parents’
reasonable
expectations
and
for
compromise
by
unauthorized
third
parties,”
according
to
the
complaint.
Who
collects
data
on
kids
and
why
is
a
big
issue.
A
large
part
of
TikTok
being
under
fire
is
the
concern
that
the
data
it
collects
from
Americans
may
be
used
by
a
hostile
country.
And
the
users
of
TikTok
skew
young.
The
Fed
taking
Microsoft
to
task
for
violating
COPPA
(Children’s
Online
Privacy
Protection
Act)
and
the
TikTok
fiasco
both
fall
under
the
umbrella
of
parents
and
lawmakers,
despite
not
knowing
exactly
what
their
children
are
up
to
online,
doing
their
best
to
protect
their
interests.
I’d
assume
that
it
would
be
best
for
Microsoft
to
comply
and
do
better
moving
forward.
They
should
consider
themselves
lucky
that
they
didn’t
get
hit
closer
to
Epic
Game’s
$520m
fines.
Microsoft
To
Pay
Feds
$20M
Over
Xbox
Child
Data
Collection
[Law360]
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.
