> If I had a child, I would have severe qualms with it.

Yeah, I'm skeptical. If you had a child, you'd be so spread thin with keeping your kid healthy and safe, while paying for it all, that the licensing of some software they use would be the least of your concerns. You'd be worried that his girlfriend might be manipulative, if he's smoking too much weed, if he's partying too much, if he is being bullied, or if saving up for the PS5 is a wise use of his summer job funds, most likely.

I have 3 kids, and I'm glad those are not my worries. Marrying the right person helps. (though there is some luck there)

My worries is while I'm working with one kid the other will start watching Thomas the train or the like on youtube.

What's wrong with Thomas the tank engine?

I think it has to do with this sort of issue: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1418668/kids-left-traumatised-...

For the last few years, there have been complaints that Youtube Kids has issues where the algorithm stumbles onto content using cartoon characters in ways that are disturbing for young kids.

Hours of that instead of the school work they are supposed to do.

Plus they run around acting like the naughty diesel 10. Instead of imanginative play.

Do you think imaginative play is supposed to be from whole cloth? I thought that was half the point of children’s media, to give raw material for children to synthesize into imaginative play.

My kids play very different when they are not given media. They can create their own stories. They dig in the mud instead of grabbing some dirt and calling it thomas.

I loved Thomas as a kid and will let my kids watch it, but if you actually watch the plots they have very odd morals to the stories and are generally male chauvinist. But trains and it's generally harmless IMHO as long as you discuss the shortcomings with your children.

I find it mind boggling that US government entities use a service run by company with such deep ties with China.

I think both are a rightful condemnation of previous video conferencing "solutions".

I can tell you right now they're just gonna default to Zoom as that's the service that is mostly talked about, and probably the easiest to set up and use. Even my grandmother knows how to set up a Zoom meeting.

What? Zoom HQ is in Cali.

I'm not highly educated on the matter, but here's an instance of a Zoom employee illegally working with the CCP (and other zoom employees) to crack down on dissidents: https://fortune.com/2020/12/18/zoom-china-employee-charged-c...

Many use google classroom, which is at least US owned, but then probably mines significantly more data about the behavior of minors.

Microsoft is a for profit foreign owned service. So is google. And Apple. And facebook.