[Joy]

I've just noticied that a 12-year-old member has joined my forum. I don't have COPPA enabled and I do not deny registrations for under 13's. I have all adult content password protected but I'm not sure what to do now so any help would be much appreciated?

[Lord Howard]

Any help with what?
As long as you have any adult content in a board thats password protected then everything should be fine.

[Moelman]

Originally Posted by howard11

Any help with what?
As long as you have any adult content in a board thats password protected then everything should be fine.

http://www.coppa.org/

So by law they either have to send in a form or be denied registration.

[Joy]

I have now denied access to anyone under the age of 13 from registering at the forums. But, do I need to contact the younger member? I'm not sure what I need to do to cover myself?

[Moelman]

Honestly I don't even know how big of a deal it is to allow members under 13 on to forums. At one forum I moderate there have been members under 13 and the administrators either never knew or didn't care.

But to cover yourself I guess its a good idea to contact the member and let them know that they either need to send in the form or they will not be allowed to return.

[bcmtouring]

Its better to be safe than sorry, get in touch with the member and have him/her fill out the COPPA form and send it to you, else ban him.

[Sir TVDinner]

lets be realistic here. MANY of all of our members could be, and probably are, under 13. Anyone can lie about their birth date and pick an older year to comply with the rules. So that being said - I say you dont make a big deal out of it.
And if you do ban them or ask them to leave the board, you dont have to worry about anything. Your forum is your forum. you can arbitratirly ban anyone, and we all do every single day with spammers and board trouble makers. If you have it in your rules that you dont allow anyone under 13 and someone stupidly puts their real age and it is under 13, just remove them from the forum, but ultimately they could just rejoin again with a new name and adjust the birthdate....

just my opinion

[Jolteon]

Originally Posted by Moelman

http://www.coppa.org/

So by law they either have to send in a form or be denied registration.

Isn't COPPA just US?

[Sir TVDinner]

it is a "usa" thing, but ultimately it is just words words words. you enforce it if someone puts their actual age and they are under 13. So you enforce it when it is obvious, but as mentioned above, anyone can lie about their age. we are not verifying birth certificates or state issued ID's, lol. What is being discussed in this thread is one of the biggest gray areas on the net, because ultimately it is not policed unless you are talking about some sicko kiddie porn or abuse site, which is a completely different story and does not apply to any of us here.

[Ryan]

The problem here, TVDinner, is that this violates COPPA. The fact of the matter is that a 12 year old registered, was never asked his/her age, and did not send in parental permission...that violates COPPA. Will Joy get in trouble for it? I highly doubt it.

The solution? Delete that account and send him/her an email saying that you need parental permission to register. Then, turn on COPPA...All you've got to do is ask age on registration and deny anybody under 13 or require parental permission. If somebody lies about their age, that's on their own accord, and you are not held liable...You did your job by asking and enforcing, and it's not your fault they lied.