do COPPA laws apply on AT?

[tami]

a kid in this forum says he's 12. if he is, is he violating any rules by posting here?

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=38&threadid=1613114&enterthread=y

 

[Gurck]

Eh, judging by OT, most members here are 12. What's the big deal?

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: Gurck
Eh, judging by OT, most members here are 12. What's the big deal?

attitude wise, perhaps. but regardless of how one acts, children under the age of 13 are not supposed to be sharing their personal information on such websites as AnandTech.

http://www.coppa.org

i'm sure when the kid signed up, he refused to admit that he's younger than 13. here is blatant truth that he is.

 

[yllus]

According to How to Comply With The Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, since all AnandTech collects on its users is a first name, last name and e-mail address and doesn't disclose any of that to third-party advertisers, it's good to go.

I must admit, my knowledge of COPPA was that it had been challenged as an unworkable law and was not in effect.

 

[KarenMarie]

Anandtech is not 'collecting' that information, right? I mean, he just volunteered that info...

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
Anandtech is not 'collecting' that information, right? I mean, he just volunteered that info...

which, if viewed by someone who can take action, should be grounds for removal until he has aged.

i'm not so familiar with COPPA laws myself, but i'm pretty certain that anyone under the age of 13 is not supposed to be posting here.

 

[ViRGE]

I just checked the registration page and they're not asking for age(to lock out people under 13), AT may not be COPPA compliant.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: tami

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
Anandtech is not 'collecting' that information, right? I mean, he just volunteered that info...

which, if viewed by someone who can take action, should be grounds for removal until he has aged.

i'm not so familiar with COPPA laws myself, but i'm pretty certain that anyone under the age of 13 is not supposed to be posting here.

But that will remove half the YAGT in ATOT.

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: tami

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
Anandtech is not 'collecting' that information, right? I mean, he just volunteered that info...

which, if viewed by someone who can take action, should be grounds for removal until he has aged.

i'm not so familiar with COPPA laws myself, but i'm pretty certain that anyone under the age of 13 is not supposed to be posting here.

But that will remove half the YAGT in ATOT.

who is complaining?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: tami

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: tami

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
Anandtech is not 'collecting' that information, right? I mean, he just volunteered that info...

which, if viewed by someone who can take action, should be grounds for removal until he has aged.

i'm not so familiar with COPPA laws myself, but i'm pretty certain that anyone under the age of 13 is not supposed to be posting here.

But that will remove half the YAGT in ATOT.

who is complaining?

The complainers will be those that get their daily doses of fantasy from those threads.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: yllus
According to How to Comply With The Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, since all AnandTech collects on its users is a first name, last name and e-mail address and doesn't disclose any of that to third-party advertisers, it's good to go.

I must admit, my knowledge of COPPA was that it had been challenged as an unworkable law and was not in effect.

I belive it was struck down by the courts as unenforcable or somesuch.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: yllus
According to How to Comply With The Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, since all AnandTech collects on its users is a first name, last name and e-mail address and doesn't disclose any of that to third-party advertisers, it's good to go.

I must admit, my knowledge of COPPA was that it had been challenged as an unworkable law and was not in effect.

I belive it was struck down by the courts as unenforcable or somesuch.

No, COPPA(Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) is legal, but the COPA(Children's Online Protection Act) and CDA(Communication Deceny Act) are not.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: yllus
According to How to Comply With The Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, since all AnandTech collects on its users is a first name, last name and e-mail address and doesn't disclose any of that to third-party advertisers, it's good to go.

I must admit, my knowledge of COPPA was that it had been challenged as an unworkable law and was not in effect.

IANAL, but looking at Sec 1302.4.B, the forums are obviously covered by this act since we're a message board that offers publicly identifiable information and could let people post publicly identifiable information, and among the personal information offered by these forums, includes names and email addresses(items 8a and 8c). I'm fairly confident AT is not COPPA compliant here.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Remember that the names are not verified, only the e-mail address.

 

[theMan]

yeah, someone could make up whatever they wanted. if i was under 13, i would probably make up my info.

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Remember that the names are not verified, only the e-mail address.

whether or not it's verifiable, the kid does admit to his name being Jordan Smith, so regardless of that being the truth, if this guy could get away with disclosing personal information, so could the next. i'm not sure if that's the kind of example AT wants to set, especially if viewed by a lawmaker or someone truly concerned about children's privacy online.

i'm not one to care either way, but it would help to get a definitive answer regarding this issue. further, the kid was acting like a troll anyway.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: theman
yeah, someone could make up whatever they wanted. if i was under 13, i would probably make up my info.

The accepted solution is that you can't do anything to keep a kid from lying, but if they're telling the truth then you need to protect them, hence on other BBS packages there will be a COPPA question tied to a setting to either block the person from registering, or go to a secondary registration page with the parental waiver. The later happens rarely, it's too much work.