Parental controls for teen buyers

SEATTLE - Amazon is taking aim at one of the unintended consequences of the internet age: purchases racked up by a youth with a credit card.

The online retailer earlier this month said it would allow teenagers to set up Amazon accounts linked to those of a parent, giving the adult veto power over specific purchases and the ability to set spending caps.

Michael Carr, parent of a teenager and a vice-president in Amazon's e-commerce services group, related a story he'd heard secondhand of somebody winding up with a golf cart a child had ordered. "What we want to do is empower parents to have conversations around appropriate spending," he says.