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Child experts file FTC complaint against Facebook kids’ app

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By BARBARA ORTUTAY,  AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Children’s and public health advocacy groups say Facebook’s kid-centric messaging app violates federal law by collecting kids’ personal information without getting verifiable consent from their parents.

FILE- In this Feb. 16, 2018, file photo, Facebook’s Messenger Kids app is displayed on an iPhone in New York.The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and other groups are asking the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday, Oct. 3, to investigate Facebook’s Messenger Kids for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and other groups asked the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday to investigate Facebook’s Messenger Kids for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.

The complaint says the app does not meet COPPA requirements because it doesn’t try to ensure that the person who sets up the kids’ account and gives consent to have their data collected is the actual parent. In fact, the groups say, someone could set up a brand new, fictional account and immediately approve a kid’s account without proving their age or identity.

Facebook said Wednesday it hasn’t yet reviewed the complaint letter. The company has said it doesn’t show ads on Messenger Kids or collect data for marketing purposes, though it does collect some data it says is necessary to run the service.

But the advocacy groups say the privacy policy of Messenger Kids is “incomplete and vague” and allows Facebook to disclose data to third parties and other Facebook services “for broad, undefined business purposes.”

Facebook launched Messenger Kids last December on iOS and has since expanded to Android and Amazon devices and beyond the U.S. to Mexico, Canada and elsewhere. It is aimed at children under 13 who technically cannot have Facebook accounts (although plenty of them do).

Though the company says it has received a lot of input from parents and children’s development experts in creating the app, groups such as the CCFC have been trying to get Messenger Kids shut down since it launched.

‘I Shouldn’t Have Worn the Green Shirt’: Mom Foiled by Technology on Picture Day

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There’s so much riding on school picture day – Look nice, smile bright, sit up straight. This photo will be published in yearbooks and be archived in school basements. Soon to be forgotten classmates will highlight and transcribe it. Your doting parents will hang it in a stairwell, send it to distant relatives. Someday, someone might post it to Facebook or Instagram, a #FlashbackFriday moment.

Laurel Boone Hutsell anticipated most of these things when she sent her son to school picture day.

She instructed him on the finer points of smiling for a camera – Don’t squint. Look natural. What Hutsell didn’t anticipate was the green screen backdrop that would turn her son, who was wearing a bright green shirt, into a floating head, not unlike the Cheshire Cat in Alice and Wonderland.

The result of Hutsell’s mistake is internet catnip. Another unsuspecting parent foiled by technology and giving us the stuff that memes are made of.

Baby boom at Arizona hospital with 16 pregnant nurses

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By ANITA SNOW, Associated Press

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — A baby boom is brewing at a suburban Arizona hospital where 16 intensive care nurses recently discovered they are all pregnant.

The nurses at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa outside Phoenix joked Friday they thought there was something in the water when it became clear they were all expecting babies between October and January.

Most of the sixteen pregnant nurses who work together in the intensive care unit at Banner Desert Medical Center pose for a group photograph after attending a news conference where they all talked about being pregnant at the same time, with most of them due to give birth between October and January, Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Nurse Rochelle Sherman, nearly eight months along, said: “I don’t think we realized just how many of us were pregnant until we started a Facebook group.”

Nurse Jolene Garrow joked, “We all formulated this plan to have the holidays off!”

Garrow said that as their pregnancies have progressed, the patients have begun noticing that most of the nurses around them are expecting. One patient insisted on touching her belly the night before, she said.

Garrow added that their non-pregnant colleagues have been great at helping with patients they should not be exposed to because of conditions or treatments that are potentially dangerous for expectant women, such as tuberculosis or shingles or chemotherapy because of the radiation.

But Ashley Adkins worried that the other nurses are getting tired of their pregnancy-focused conversations.

“They just roll their eyes!” she laughed. “More baby talk!”

Hospital officials noted that the Banner medical center chain has a pool of floating nurses that should ensure shifts are covered when their ICU nursing specialists begin taking their 12-week maternity leaves starting in the fall.

The nurses said their colleagues are throwing a group baby shower next week.

The hospital on Friday gave the women one-piece rompers reading, “Relax! My mom is a Banner nurse!”

Serena Williams shares postpartum struggles on social media

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By The Associated Press

Serena Williams says she’s been struggling with postpartum emotions and wants other new moms to know they are “totally normal.”

The 23-time Grand Slam champion suffered the most lopsided defeat of her career, a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Johanna Konta in San Jose, California, last Tuesday. She then withdrew from this week’s Rogers Cup in Montreal, citing personal reasons.

“Last week was not easy for me. Not only was I accepting some tough personal stuff, but I just was in a funk. Mostly, I felt like I was not a good mom,” Williams said in an Instagram post on Monday.

Last week was not easy for me. Not only was I accepting some tough personal stuff, but I just was in a funk. Mostly, I felt like I was not a good mom. I read several articles that said postpartum emotions can last up to 3 years if not dealt with. I like communication best. Talking things through with my mom, my sisters, my friends let me know that my feelings are totally normal. It’s totally normal to feel like I’m not doing enough for my baby. We have all been there. I work a lot, I train, and I’m trying to be the best athlete I can be. However, that means although I have been with her every day of her life, I’m not around as much as I would like to be. Most of you moms deal with the same thing. Whether stay-at-home or working, finding that balance with kids is a true art. You are the true heroes. I’m here to say: if you are having a rough day or week–it’s ok–I am, too!!! There’s always tomm!

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on

“I read several articles that said postpartum emotions can last up to 3 years if not dealt with. I like communication best. Talking things through with my mom, my sisters, my friends let me know that my feelings are totally normal.”

The 36-year-old Williams was the runner-up at Wimbledon last month. That was just her fourth tournament since returning to the tour after having a baby in September and dealing with a health scare related to blood clots.

“It’s totally normal to feel like I’m not doing enough for my baby,” she added. “Although I have been with her every day of her life, I’m not around as much as I would like to be. Most of you moms deal with the same thing. Whether stay-at-home or working, finding that balance with kids is a true art. You are the true heroes.”

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