More or Less · Topics · Episode #164
Sam's Fix: A Law Giving Parents a Live Feed of Everything Their Kids Do Online
Clip from the full recording, 35:10–41:32 · download mp4 · watch at this point on YouTube
Sam's one structural rule he'd back: every OS and app above scale must publish a feed of a child's activity that parents can read with an agent. No time limits, no nettling rules, just transparency plus AI on top. Dave loves it; Brit points to ClearSpace already trying.
Sam proposes the one law he would actually get behind. Every operating system and every app past a few million users must give parents a simple way to get a continuous feed of everything their kid consumes and clicks. Version one doesn’t block anything; it makes the log easy to access so a parent can have a conversation, and, in an agentic world, run Claude over it with their own values to decide what matters. The next step is blocking channels, but the core is a low-level, universal rule that applies to Instagram, YouTube and Spotify alike instead of a pile of screen-time settings.
He describes the current absurdity: a desktop in his house logged into his son’s iMessage that he screenshots all day because there’s no API, while iMessage ships elaborate contact controls nobody can use. He already pulls his own Spotify history via API and would like the same for his kids. Dave says this is trivial engineering, just database logs, and doesn’t exist because Meta and Google won’t expose it. Sam notes Apple avoids all scrutiny despite controlling the App Store review process that could enforce age verification and data feeds; Dave says it’s everyone’s problem, not just Apple’s. Jess wants solutions dead simple for non-technical, time-starved parents; Sam says a feed with an agent on top is exactly that, and that current parental controls are an irrecoverable mess even in a motivated, technical household. Brit points to portfolio company ClearSpace, which takes a VPN-like approach and lets parents set rules in plain English. Sam’s reaction: it’s insane that startups are needed to layer parental controls on top of platforms at all.
Key points
- The proposal: a universal rule that every OS and large app publishes a parent-readable feed of a child's activity; transparency first, blocking later.
- Agents make review tractable: run an AI over the log with your values instead of clicking through everything.
- Sam screenshots his son's iMessage from a logged-in desktop because there's no API; parental controls are a mess even for technical parents.
- Dave: this is just database logs; it's easy and the platforms simply don't offer it.
- Apple's App Store review could enforce age verification and data feeds at the OS level, yet Apple escapes the blame Facebook gets.
- Brit: ClearSpace is attacking this with a VPN-style approach and plain-English rules; Sam: it's crazy that a startup is required.
Where they landed
Quotes
“Every OS and app produced has to publish a feed of every action of children that their parents can watch with an agent.”— Sam
“I have a desktop sitting in my room where I logged into my son's iMessage account and I have to sit there and screenshot it all day long algorithmically because there's no APIs to it.”— Sam
“These are like database logs. There could be an API for this. No problem.”— Dave
Suggested tweets
Sam’s actual policy proposal: every app above scale has to publish a parent-readable feed of everything a kid does — no time limits, just transparency + AI
Tweet this →“These are just database logs. There could be an API for this. No problem.” — Dave Morin on why the tech to protect kids already exists
Tweet this →Sam screenshots his son’s iMessages by hand every day because there’s still no API for it. In 2026
Tweet this →All topics · Full episode #164 + transcript · Subscribe on YouTube · Spotify