Apps and kids: Google may be next in FTC crosshairs

Apple leaped into action after the Federal Trade Commission cracked down on iPhone and iPad apps that let kids spend their parents’ money without permission. Not even a week after the news broke in January, the company’s top lawyer quietly took aim -- at a competitor.

“I thought this article might be of some interest, particularly if you have not already seen it,” Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell wrote to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez and Democratic Commissioner Julie Brill, pointing to a report that criticized Google’s app store over the same issue of unauthorized purchases. If recent history is any guide -- and Apple and consumer advocates have their way -- Google may be next in the FTC’s crosshairs. For a time, some Android smartphone owners who entered their password to download a game or other app later discovered their kids had racked up charges within that app for up to 30 minutes afterward. That’s the reason the FTC pursued Apple -- and it’s the rationale behind the agency’s newly revealed investigation of Amazon. The cases only raise the odds that Google is another target.