I can not resist commenting on this story. It does not surprise me that a three-year old child was able to use a computer to purchase a real automobile on an auction site. In fact I can just imagine a high-tech company executive telling his/her staff “I want this system to be simple enough for a baby to use!”

Sometimes companies can go overboard thinking that the obstacle to the flow of money is a little bit of authentication, or a simple authorization check. But there needs to be a balance. Making things too easy leads to a higher rate of fraud and frustration among those trying to undo unauthorized or unathenticated purchases. And so what actually surprised me was the mother’s reaction:

Mrs Neal, of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, said she had left her eBay password in her computer and her son had used the “buy it now” button.

She said: “Jack’s a whizz on the PC and just pressed all the right buttons.

“I was just horrified.

“We now have the parental locks on – and we make sure we sign out of eBay!”

Note that she said rather specifically that she does not sign out of anything else, just eBay. Is that the right lesson? Baby buys car on eBay, mother signs out of eBay. Baby buys new computer on Amazon…