The internet is bad enough for kids without adding more for parents to worry about. Looks like the US government agrees with you. Sorry kids you won’t be talking to Microsoft Cortana. Microsoft’s virtual assistant for Windows Phone and maybe for future Windows products seems to fall under US child-protection laws and rules. That means it can’t be used by anyone under the age of 13. Microsoft has found a pretty cool way to answer kids should they try to use Cortana. It will tell the kids;
I’m sorry, you’ll need to be bit older before I can help you ~Cortana
If your are not familiar with Cortana. The name comes from the AI computer from the iconic game Halo. To learn more about Cortana check out our story on its introduction into the world in the post Say hello to Cortana. Microsoft’s answer to Siri. What sets the virtual personal assistant apart from Apple’s Siri and Google Now is that Cortana gets to know you as you talk to it. It does this by collecting lots of data from you. Then it sends all that lovely data to Microsoft’s servers. That collecting data and sending to the mother ship is why Cortana falls under the US government’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act also known as COPPA.