Parental Anxiety Over Child Safety Grows
Downloaded by Over 50 Million Users, App Rises in Popularity Rankings
Following the murder of an elementary school student in Daejeon, the installation of 'child protection applications' that help ensure children's safety has surged dramatically. The victim's parents previously revealed that they were able to track their child's location through the app and listen to the surrounding sounds in real-time at the crime scene using the app's ambient listening feature.
According to Mobile Index, a data analysis solution by IGAWorks, the number of new installations of the 'Find My Kids' app in February was 175 on the 1st, 370 on the 2nd, 312 on the 3rd, 215 on the 4th, 290 on the 5th, 387 on the 6th, 534 on the 7th, 370 on the 8th, and 643 on the 9th.
On the day of the incident, the 10th, there were 254 new installations, but the very next day, the 11th, the number surged nearly 70-fold to 17,874. During the same period, the daily active users (DAU) ranged between 10,000 and 20,000 from the 1st to the 10th, but on the 11th, it reached 38,562.
This incident has heightened parents' anxiety about their children's safety, leading to a sharp increase in interest in the app. The app has been downloaded by over 50 million users on the Google Play Store alone, and its popularity ranking has risen since the recent incident.
However, some raise concerns about the potential misuse of features like ambient listening, expressing worries about restrictions on teachers' authority. There are also claims that eavesdropping through the app could violate the Communications Privacy Protection Act.
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