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Since my earliest days on the internet and on the web in the early 1990's, I've always been nervous when services wanted by birthdate for (AFAICT) no good reaso
by Anechoic 14y ago
Since my earliest days on the internet and on the web in the early 1990's, I've always been nervous when services wanted by birthdate for (AFAICT) no good reason whatsoever. Since then, I've always used proxy dates as my "birthday" (dates that are easy for me to remember, but no one else knows) for services that don't legally require my real birthday (when filling out bank/govt forms, I will use my real DOB).
I'm thankful that I've done that, but of course it doesn't help when a FB friend helpfully sends me a "Happy Birthday" message on my real birthday or when my real birthday is available through so many public records. Sigh.
- joshfraser 14y agoThey ask for legal reasons. To make sure you are older than 13 due to COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act).
- lawnchair_larry 14y agoThis would be much better satisfied with a checkbox.
- wnight 14y agoYes, or further, by simply reminding you "Using the service may be illegal if ..." and letting you make the decision. If it's done this badly, and this cumbersomely, there must be a law requiring it.
- eli 14y agoNo, it's not that you could get in trouble for being under 13... it's the site that could be breaking the law by collecting data on children (without parental consent).
- xk_id 14y agoIt is still not entirely clear to me why people allow the whole Facebook wall shenanigans. I've closed mine a long time ago, exactly because I never understood why would I want to mix in one place the public, the personal, and the intimate. The very idea of blurred boundaries is not sane, it's bound to keep creating problems (like the one you describe).