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Comment by Almondsetat

8 months ago

Ok: your kid which has parental control can now do everything he wants with the phone. What's next?

Parents get to override their kids' ownership rights in other contexts, so it would reasonably be the same in this one.

  • But here is the problem: just like with cryptography it's an all-or-nothing game. You can either have E2EE all of the time or none of the time. There is absolutely no mechanism that would allow your child to truly own his phone but magically allow you to take complete control of it when necessary.

    • Correct. The parent can truly own the phone and allow the child restricted access. It's reasonable for this to be true in a technical sense even if the child owns the phone in a legal sense.

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Why would a kid be able to bypass parental control?

  • The phone is theirs, is it not?

    • No? In virtually all cases it was purchased by the parents who also pay the bill, so it's only theirs to use. Even if they somehow bought it with their own money, parents ultimately have the final say over how they're allowed to use it until they're 18.

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You give your kid a smart phone when you trust them with one? The standard parental control, money. They can't afford the phone or the cellular plan on their own.

sure, if they buy their own phone.

  • what difference does it make to have a phone between your hands and having paid for it vs. not having paid for it? does the circuitry inside somehow know you are the "rightful" owner?

    • well presumably as the responsible parent you believe you are , you would know to set up the parental controls before giving the phone to your child.

      But then again you seem to be confusing parental controls with Apple controlling who can make apps for a a 3rd party store