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> date of birth required US law has some requirements on accounts created by minors which essentially means you must check the age for people creating new acco
by Nitramp 8y ago
> date of birth required
US law has some requirements on accounts created by minors which essentially means you must check the age for people creating new accounts, and you must not allow accounts for people < X years (but are not allowed to tell them up front).
I don't entirely understand where exactly this applies, i.e. why you can create accounts on some sites without giving your age. It might only apply in some telecommunication accounts cases, or maybe (possibly more likely), Google is one of the few companies subject to scrutiny here, so everyone else just flies under the radar.
- mschuster91 8y ago> I don't entirely understand where exactly this applies, i.e. why you can create accounts on some sites without giving your age. That law is called COPPA ("Children Online Privacy Protection Act"). It applies to sites dedicated to children (as per https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-questions#Web%20sites%20and%20online https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/com...). As Google uses one and the same account for all its services including YouTube, all Google accounts are potentially "dedicated to children" (YouTube IIRC has even a special section for videos suitable even for toddlers).
- hadrien01 8y agoYou need to be at least 13 to use Google or YouTube, so they don't have to respect the intricacies of COPPA.
- plasticchris 8y agoInteresting. There are many children who watch youtube that are younger than this. At the pediatric dentist they even had it playing on overhead TVs while they worked. Are they really making a product that caters to very young children while claiming for legal purposes no children can use it?
- zrobotics 8y agoNo,children can use YouTube. However, the TOS prohibits them from making an account. A parent can set up an account, or they can use it without logging in.
- Buge 8y agoThe very action of enforcing the "need to be at least 13" is respecting what COPPA demands.
- codedokode 8y agoBut if the user is over 18 then you need only the year without month and day.
- irishcoffee 8y agoIf the user is 17.8 years old you need the month. If the user is 17.95 years old, you need the day.
- Sephr 8y agoYou don't need anything, just the user's affirmative confirmation in response to the prompt, "Are you 18 or older?"
- ataturk 8y agoAnd so the kids just make up fake birthdays. The middle school kids have 5-10 Gmail accounts. My daughter created a whole bunch with silly names.