Amazon Patents Gift Card Parental Controls 73
theodp writes "On Tuesday, Amazon received a patent on 'Customizing Gift Instrument Experiences for Recipients', which allows a gift card giver to not only recommend items via the gift card but also to restrict the types of things the card can be used to buy — and to get a report back on what the recipient purchases. From the patent: 'The rules could also specify that the available media be constrained by a rating, such as a parental rating (e.g. G, PG, PG-13, R, etc.) or media that excludes explicit lyrics or language. In other examples, the gift instrument purchaser directs that the gift instrument can only be redeemed for books (e.g., not video games), books of a selected genre (e.g., romance, action, historical, etc.), books having a selected author, etc.'"
Legislate gift cards out of existence (Score:5, Insightful)
Print your own home made cards and give cash. That way you're not giving the gift of an expiring piece of plastic or paper which may or may not be honoured depending on how the company that issued it is traded. Gift cards are for suckers...err I mean unsecured creditors.
Here in Australia when a couple of the big retail book chains got into trouble they just decided to not honour gift cards or honour only if you bought matching value, and they severely curtailed the time for which the cards were valid. I didn't get bitten but that was because I always knew such BS was possible. Any time I get a gift card I try to spend it immediately.
Gift cards are a scam and should be made illegal.