It doesn’t get much worse than this from a big bad corporation stand point.   Companies that sell software to help parents monitor a child’s activity online have been repackaging the data collected as market research and selling it to other companies.  The Associated Press released an article on the subject the other day.

Software sold under the Sentry and FamilySafe brands can read private chats conducted through Yahoo, MSN, AOL and other services, and send back data on what kids are saying about such things as movies, music or video games. The information is then offered to businesses seeking ways to tailor their marketing messages to kids.

“This scares me more than anything I have seen using monitoring technology,” said Parry Aftab, a child-safety advocate. “You don’t put children’s personal information at risk.”

This goes to show just how much of a grey area Internet laws really are.  Being able to monitor a child’s activity is pretty low.  Although by the parents agreeing to these ‘terms’ in the Terms of Service of the software, the companies are most likely in the clear of any legal punishments.  Take it as a warning to be carful what software you rely on for personal information.