EchoMetrix CEO Jeff Greene said parents who don’t want the company to share their child’s information to businesses can check a box to opt out. HA! You know what that sounds like? It sounds like a cult who gets you in to their meeting about “the leader” and then claims that you are free to leave whenever you want, but then makes it impossible to actually do.

Here’s the proof: The option to opt out can actually only be found by visiting the company’s Web site. It was not in the agreement contained in the program itself. The advertising companies that EchoMetrix passes the information along to are termed “trusted partners” by their website. Do you trust them?

And watch this: There are federal privacy laws that prohibit data collection for kids under 13, so EchoMetrix fixed up that little glitch, and added a special clause in their contract. The company has “a parent’s permission to share the information if the user is a child under age 13.”
Why didn’t anybody know about this before? Come on – who really reads those contracts in full before you click “accept” and download to your heart’s content? Practically speaking, few people ever read the fine print before they click on a button to agree to the licensing agreement.

The bad thing is, EchoMetrix needs the business given to them by the ad companies. In other words, they need to sell the information to keep afloat, and they are $25 million in debt. Their recent filing said there is “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”