From CBC.ca:
Website not a kindred spirit, says Anne authority
The P.E.I. government is investigating a new website for young girls that it says is using images of Anne of Green Gables without permission.
The web site features a certain redheaded girl in pigtails.
(Annesdiary.com)Called annesdiary.com, the Toronto-based website says it is “inspired by the much-loved Anne Of Green Gables novels.” Aimed at girls aged six to 14, it claims to be the most secure website for children in the world. It requires a fingerprint reader and registration papers signed by a professional as recognized by the company running the site.
But it is not the company’s security protocol that caught the attention of the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority. Anne is a trademark owned by the government of Prince Edward Island, and Development Minister Richard Brown told CBC News on Thursday they take violations of that trademark seriously.
“We’re pursuing this quite vigorously,” said Brown, who visited the website and noted many references to and images of Anne.
“Anne of Green Gables is a trademark of Prince Edward Island, and we’re going to protect that trademark.”
The Anne Authority, which is jointly owned by the province and the heirs of author L. M. Montgomery, was established to ensure only a wholesome image of Anne is reflected in products it licenses. The authority says they haven’t given permission to annesdiary.com.
Emily Want, spokeswoman for annesdiary.com, said she approached the Montgomery heirs for permission to use Anne images, but the family was not interested in her request. Want said she’ll wait to hear from the Anne Authority before she decides her next move.
See also Jason’s blog for his comments regarding this website.
Beside using Anne’s image, this service have potential security problems. It can be pedophile heaven. Once a pedophile successfully resisted as a young girl and falsely send fingerprint of his own, he could chat with arbitrary other girls, convincing he is an girl of similar age. It’s extremely dangerous for girls, and even parents couldn’t monitor who is chatting with their daughter. The fact that to prevent this problem need grantor when start using the service is strong evidence that fingerprint authentication is not effective as advertized to be, so it can’t prevent girls from sexual abuse and kidnapping.
Annesdiary.com advertised to be able to chat with other country, but how they could confirm the grantor really exist when the application was submitted from outside of Canada?