Tech Crunch:
Amazon is refusing to comply with a request from the Federal Trade Commission to implement stricter controls that would prevent children from making in-app purchases.
The FTC is demanding Amazon implement a “consent” model similar to the one Apple conceded to earlier this year, according to a letter Amazon to the FTC Tuesday. Amazon believes it already has implemented effective parental controls consistent with the model the FTC settled on with Apple, and it says it refunded customers who complained of children making in-app purchases without their permission.
From Amazon’s letter to the FTC:
The main claim in the draft complaint is that we failed to get customers’ informed consent to in-app charges made by children and did not address that problem quickly or effectively enough in response to customer complaints. We have continuously improved our experience since launch, but even at launch, when customers told us their kids had made purchases they didn’t want we refunded those purchases.
A precedent has been set, by Apple, building a consistent, reasonable approach to controlling in-app purchases. The sense here is that Amazon does not want to take on the infrastructure associated with those controls.
If Amazon is basing their claim on refunding in-app purchases, no questions asked, they should make that a policy, as opposed to something they did at launch. If they don’t want to do that, then perhaps they should consider disallowing in-app purchases altogether. Or just go with the Apple thing.
I’m certain this will spark another investigation into Apple’s practices.
Remember when Amazon used to be so awesome? It seems like it was a long time ago.
I think Amazon is resisting because they can’t implement the same level of consent anywhere close to as easy to use as Apple.
Apple will push a notification on a parent’s iPhone to confirm a purchase on the iPad being used by a child. That’s a very fast and slick way to do it.
Amazon can’t do that because people have just one Kindle Fire, so they’ll have a lot of friction for each transaction.
It’s already been done and doesn’t need doing again. Especially with Apple doing this family share thing where it can be set up to force kids to ask for permission to buy something.
Amazons reply is part of why I will never buy a Fire etc. I shouldn’t be forced into the hassle of asking for a refund when it is plausible to set up a system to just block such sales a la Apple’s methods. And their attitude about it is horrid
I’m not sure it’s really that Amazon “can’t implement the same level of consent” as Apple. The fact is that Apple has no problem with “a lot of friction” on an in-app purchase, especially if it improves the, overall, customer experience, because Apple made, the vast majority of, its profit on the sale of the device. Amazon barely broke even on the device, so while they want to please the customer they’re more concerned with making the customer’s ability to to buy more stuff as frictionless as possible. They’d rather refund money to those who complain than inhibit everyone.
“If Amazon is basing their claim on refunding in-app purchases, no
questions asked, they should make that a policy, as opposed to something
they did at launch.”
They don’t want to do that because they probably believe that there’s a dollar threshold below which an acceptable percentage of users won’t notice or bother to ask for a refund, and knowing Amazon, they’ve probably got plenty of data to support this conclusion.
“If they don’t want to do that, then perhaps they
should consider disallowing in-app purchases altogether. Or just go with
the Apple thing.”
They’ll never do the former, and they’re trying to avoid doing the latter. In app purchasing is too lucrative for them to give it up. The Apple model requires effort and expense, both of which trim already thin margins. They’re probably willing to accept that, if they have to, but if you’ve got lawyers on retainer, why not fight and hope that the Feds will either lose in court or cave to the political pressure you can bring?
The TechCrunch headline is funny. “Amazon Stands Up to…” sounds as though Amazon’s being heroic about something unjust.
To tech libertarians standing up to
Government Agencies that regulate
is the ultimate heroic act.
If Apple had done it, all of them would be cheering
too.
Apple probably wouldn’t have done something like this without having something more comprehensive planned to protect consumers. Your “tech libertarians” are just a younger variety of big-business predator, but with fewer social skills than the previous generation had.
Hating government regulations is meaningless if you allow billionaires to regulate themselves.
Please say hello for me to your little friends over in the TechCrunch comments.
No, I don’t.
Bullshit. Apple moved from one less than ideal that should have been enough (but wasn’t) to a slightly better solution that should have been enough (but wasn’t). And we said that at the time.