> Lets assume there's an automated process for detecting underage accounts. Why can't they just prevent the account from being used to send email? Any data col

> Lets assume there's an automated process for detecting underage accounts. Why can't they just prevent the account from being used to send email? Any data collection is forbidden by COPPA without parental verification. You seem to think that's just logging ad targeting data or something. No, it includes any information entered by the child into the service. So not only can they not send any email, they can't receive e-mail. They can't even have an email address! They can't thumbs up a video on youtube, let alone save one as a favorite video for later. You could only view google docs that are globally-viewable, since you can't share a private document with a child without storing some data about them. They certainly can't edit a document! It goes on and on.