Web Monitoring Firm Sells Kids' Chatter

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.
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