Web Monitoring Firm Sells Kids' Chatter

Company also notifies parents when kids go astray online
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 5, 2009 6:55 PM CDT
Web Monitoring Firm Sells Kids' Chatter
Echometrix, which makes software that helps parents monitor their kids online, sells children's chatter "in real time" for marketing purposes.   (Shutterstock)

A company that polices children's Internet chatter is also selling it to companies that want marketing data on the quick, CNET reports. Sentry Parental Control Software, which monitors kids online—and triggers a phone call to parents when kids go astray—is amassing their chatter about products and selling it. But "we never, ever, ever can identify who the kid is who is saying it," says Echometrix CEO Jeffrey Greene.

The service helps companies "in real time, find out what the kids are saying about your product and all your competitors' products," says Greene. "I can't tell you who said it, I can only just tell you that a lot of kids said it." Meanwhile, the software combs through kids' chatter for some 29,000 words, including slang "Weblish"—including terms like POS, or Parent Over Shoulder.
(More computer stories.)

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