My last post was about our daughter using textPlus. It was a very scary incident, and I was concerned about her poor decisions. I was also trying to understand how a stranger could get in touch with her, especially since she claimed not to have created a textPlus account.
Well, those questions have been answered because, the day that post went up, I received an email from Ilan Goldman, Chief Legal Officer and Head of Security, Safety and Privacy for GOGII, the makers of textPlus.
Ilan included his phone number, and asked me to call him directly because he had further information for me.
I called him immediately.
Ilan had looked into this account personally and not only did textPlus terminate the account for the person who had been texting our daughter, they terminated our daughter’s non-existent (according to her) account.
Talking to Ilan made me feel like textPlus really cared about what had happened.
We discussed kids’ behavior, how to talk with them about being safe, and when to be concerned. Ilan was concerned (rightfully so) about the fact that our daughter, at 12, had a textPlus account. The minimum age is 13.
Our daughter still claims that she didn’t create a textPlus account, so I wondered if one of her friends might have signed her up. Don’t worry, I’m not naïve enough to think she isn’t lying. We’re are still working out the details here, but I am happy to report that textPlus seems to have it all figured out on their end.
Ilan certainly did a good job of making me feel better about his product, and he also knew what a mom wants to hear because he had this to say in his email:
“I can assure you GOGII is made up of parents as well, and we certainly respect and understand your concerns. This is why we publish a whole series of safety tips for teens and parents at our website which detail why a teen should refrain from divulging personal information (or even pictures that might identify them) to strangers and about the dangers of meeting personally with someone you may "meet" online using social networking tools, such as textPlus.”
Good Job textPlus.
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