Quote:How do you verify the age of the registrant / member?
How do you verify that the respondent is the parent or legal guardian?
I really don't understand what you are getting at. COPPA doesn't require you to VERIFY the age. Only to notifiy members that IF they are under 13 they must do certain things. It's a law in the US and following it is very simple. If a 10 year old wants to click past the age verification and state they are 15...then I am within the law. If I have a 10 year join WITHOUT COPPA and a parent wishes to create a hassle...I could be found guilty of breaking the law. It's that simple.
On my site where I had COPPA...I would get a fax with the parental information and their signature giving permission for the child to be on the site and to collect personal information. Once I even got a letter in the mail with the signed form.
Quote:Well why don't you make the plugin yourself, and if it comes out in 1,4 then you won't need to upgrade the COPPA will you know, so it might all just work out for you in the end mate.
Because I don't like wasting my time as it's a valuble commodity. And you don't sound like you are in the US so COPPA doesn't apply to you.
Where you live isn't really important, if your server is based in the US you may have to comply with COPPA. My server is in Amsterdam, so it doesn't apply to me, it wouldn't even apply if I lived in America.
It does matter where you live. They can't prosecute you if you don't live in the USA. Let's say you lived in USA and had your server in Europe...do you think you are then excluded from the law? I have many of my sites hosted in Germany and I can tell you that it doesn't exclude me from COPPA.
Hmm, I remember reading somewhere that if you had a US server, you had to comply with US law regardless of whether you lived in the US. That included COPPA.
You do have to comply with US law but they can't prosecute you so it's meaningless. The most they can do is have your host shut you down.
labrocca Wrote:Quote:How do you verify the age of the registrant / member?
How do you verify that the respondent is the parent or legal guardian?
I really don't understand what you are getting at. COPPA doesn't require you to VERIFY the age. Only to notifiy members that IF they are under 13 they must do certain things. It's a law in the US and following it is very simple. If a 10 year old wants to click past the age verification and state they are 15...then I am within the law. If I have a 10 year join WITHOUT COPPA and a parent wishes to create a hassle...I could be found guilty of breaking the law. It's that simple.
On my site where I had COPPA...I would get a fax with the parental information and their signature giving permission for the child to be on the site and to collect personal information. Once I even got a letter in the mail with the signed form.
Quote:Well why don't you make the plugin yourself, and if it comes out in 1,4 then you won't need to upgrade the COPPA will you know, so it might all just work out for you in the end mate.
Because I don't like wasting my time as it's a valuble commodity. And you don't sound like you are in the US so COPPA doesn't apply to you.
I am not from the US but many sites i have joined use the COPPA, so just because i am not not from US must mean i must not have to agree to it then?
I never really used forums when I was under 13 anyway, but I probably would have just said I was over 13 because let's be honest here, I'm not faxing something from England to America to comply with a law I don't have to comply with but is still blocking me signing up.
I am not saying it's a good law...it's very stupid in many respects. It's an old law too at least in internet time. Coppa is from 1998 when MANY of you weren't even on the internet yet. At the time it wasn't common for 12 years olds to be internet savvy. Also back then privacy was a bigger concern...almost to the point of paranoia.
However just because a law is stupid or poorly written doesn't mean it shouldn't be followed. There are still consequences.
Actually, there aren't consequences. Not one single person has
ever been charged with violating COPPA. Not one. Why? Because the law is unenforceable to begin with. It's just a "feel good" piece of legislation to make parents feel like the government is actually doing something. It's impossible to enforce COPPA, because an under-13 user will just lie (99% of the time) and it is impossible to punish someone for failing to comply for exactly that reason.
You're worried over nothing, dude. I outright refuse to comply with COPPA. So do many other sites. You're not gonna get in trouble, cuz nobody actually
cares 
Galen Wrote:You're worried over nothing, dude. I outright refuse to comply with COPPA. So do many other sites. You're not gonna get in trouble, cuz nobody actually cares
You may very well be right. But as a parent..I care and I certainly know that other parents care too. Just because it's a bad law doesn't mean the intent was bad.