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Possibly. There are laws like COPPA that companies have to follow around storing the data of children under 13, and they may delete your account after learning

Possibly. There are laws like COPPA that companies have to follow around storing the data of children under 13, and they may delete your account after learning your true age, rather than undertaking the efforts that the law requires, lest they risk getting into trouble.

saagarjha 6y ago
I know about COPPA; that is why I specifically chose “12” and not “13” ;) I brought this up because I am fairly sure the the moderators know enough about me to say that I am not actually 12 regardless of what I state here, which is the point I am trying to make: does the law require one to take statements made by a person on the Internet at face value if they seem patently false? If yes, is such a law practical and/or reasonable? (FWIW, Y Combinator forbids children under the age of 13 from making accounts for this reason. However, when people have done so in the past it has usually been tacitly ignored for reasons pertaining to “it would be a net loss for everyone if we enforced this”.)
- imtringued 6y ago
  >does the law require one to take statements made by a person on the Internet at face value if they seem patently false? If yes, is such a law practical and/or reasonable? Doesn't this effectively legalize fraud? If you order a product on Amazon and something else arrives you'll have to take the merchant listing at face value because it was communicated over the internet. You are a construction worker and go on Amazon and order a power bank. It was actually a fake listing by a third party seller. Two days later the package arrives, you unpack it only to discover that you have received a brick instead of the promised power bank. You dispute the sale and send an E-Mail to the third party seller. You tell him this product is red, it is square and it is heavy, it's a brick, not a power bank. The seller responds. Yes, the product is red, it is square and it is heavy, it's a power bank. Here is a picture of the power bank (shows the brick).
- otterley 6y ago
  > does the law require one to take statements made by a person on the Internet at face value if they seem patently false? [IAAL but this is not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction if you need legal advice.] For the purpose of COPPA, the standard is "actual knowledge." Under that standard, if you have an honest and reasonable belief that a claim is untrue, you can discard that claim. If, on the other hand, your belief is unreasonable under the circumstances, or you just ignore all self-reported ages and assume they're all false, then you could be liable. For the purpose of the law at issue in the sex crime case in Washington state, I do not know what the standard of knowledge is (but it's almost certainly lower than actual knowledge, given the outcome). The instructions given to the jury were not reported.

saagarjha 6y ago

I know about COPPA; that is why I specifically chose “12” and not “13” ;) I brought this up because I am fairly sure the the moderators know enough about me to say that I am not actually 12 regardless of what I state here, which is the point I am trying to make: does the law require one to take statements made by a person on the Internet at face value if they seem patently false? If yes, is such a law practical and/or reasonable? (FWIW, Y Combinator forbids children under the age of 13 from making accounts for this reason. However, when people have done so in the past it has usually been tacitly ignored for reasons pertaining to “it would be a net loss for everyone if we enforced this”.)

imtringued 6y ago
>does the law require one to take statements made by a person on the Internet at face value if they seem patently false? If yes, is such a law practical and/or reasonable? Doesn't this effectively legalize fraud? If you order a product on Amazon and something else arrives you'll have to take the merchant listing at face value because it was communicated over the internet. You are a construction worker and go on Amazon and order a power bank. It was actually a fake listing by a third party seller. Two days later the package arrives, you unpack it only to discover that you have received a brick instead of the promised power bank. You dispute the sale and send an E-Mail to the third party seller. You tell him this product is red, it is square and it is heavy, it's a brick, not a power bank. The seller responds. Yes, the product is red, it is square and it is heavy, it's a power bank. Here is a picture of the power bank (shows the brick).
otterley 6y ago
> does the law require one to take statements made by a person on the Internet at face value if they seem patently false? [IAAL but this is not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction if you need legal advice.] For the purpose of COPPA, the standard is "actual knowledge." Under that standard, if you have an honest and reasonable belief that a claim is untrue, you can discard that claim. If, on the other hand, your belief is unreasonable under the circumstances, or you just ignore all self-reported ages and assume they're all false, then you could be liable. For the purpose of the law at issue in the sex crime case in Washington state, I do not know what the standard of knowledge is (but it's almost certainly lower than actual knowledge, given the outcome). The instructions given to the jury were not reported.