darkSpyro

The law is COPPA, as I've said more than a couple of times.

It's called the "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act" and restricts how websites are allowed to interact with children under the age of 13.

I'm not saying you should leave because "some dude behind a computer" says so - I'm saying that those who operate and host this site have a legal obligation, for better or worse, that if they ignore could potentially open them up to thousands of dollars worth of fines.

Well I don't give a crap. I'm the UK so why should I?

...so, what you're saying is that you don't care if those who operate and host this site end up getting fined thousands of dollars?

How caring of you.

Indeed. It doesn't apply to any UK users seeing as it is a United States Federal Law

Actually, it does.

It restricts sites that are hosted in the US from collecting personal information from children under 13, even if they're located outside of the country.

*facepalm*
So are they going to turn up at my house demanding all of my Birthday Money. I think not. They might as well wear Pink Bunny costumes while they're at it...

They don't fine you - why would they turn up at your house?

They'd fine the owners/operators of this site (in this case, the fine folks at Curse, who are located in Alabama according to the 'About Us' page).

Well so what, are they going to sue curse because the target demographic visits a portion of the site that they host

What? Sue you? No. There's really no legal basis for that as far as I know.

The providers would just end up paying any potential fines out of pocket. And probably cancel Dark's account. Depending on his agreement with them, he might end up liable for the damages and they could sue *him*.

So are they going to terminate every under 13's account. First they would have to find out some details and inn doing that they would be breaking their own law...

Well, the course of action they'd want to take from here on out is completely up to Dark and those who run the site.

As for your question about "finding out details", you'll note that *most* sites verify your age before they start to collect data - and when you enter your age, if you're under 13, they reject your registration (unless, of course, you flat out lie about your age - which does help protect the site some).

Look here, what's the probability hat a 13 year old could send mail without anyone knowing... Very slim, also if we are talking Pay Pal do you really think that a 0-12 year old has one?! I ink not...

Quote: ninja9351

also if we are talking Pay Pal do you really think that a 0-12 year old has one?! I ink not...

Shouldn't - since PayPal's age requirements are 18+.

My Sig got removed.

Im under 13 here. Like I said, there are a lot of kids on this site and they can sometimes give away addresses without permission. It is possible for it to happen. It is too risky for Dark overall. He would get in trouble if a incident involving personal info happens here.

Quote: sniper52

Im under 13 here. Like I said, there are a lot of kids on this site and they can sometimes give away addresses without permission. It is possible for it to happen. It is too risky for Dark overall. He would get in trouble if a incident involving personal info happens here.

He can get in trouble for allowing children under 13 to continue posting on the site as well.

Quote: sniper52

Im under 13 here. Like I said, there are a lot of kids on this site and they can sometimes give away addresses without permission. It is possible for it to happen. It is too risky for Dark overall. He would get in trouble if a incident involving personal info happens here.

And again, how do the trading card transactions take place on here? Sensitive information is passed along somehow to get the cards you are interested in to make it from point A to point B. The mods still continue to brush off this question that I pose. "Well we don't have time to look through every post on here" but they can go through a selection of posters on this discussion and make them remove their signatures? Total BS on so many levels.

Since my earlier post here was moderated, I'll tone it down a bit and hopefully still get the same points across.

@ TheGooch: You've been a member of this website for two months. You're thinking that the rules of this website, which were established with very valid, very sound reasoning long before your arrival, should be altered to suit your wishes, for very little reason other than that it's your personal preference that they be changed ... you know, just because you say so.

Have you ever been a part of an established organization of any kind where a person, in a non-authority position, enacts significant cultural change in said organization two months after his arrival on the scene?

I'm going to assume, "no".

However, even if you had two years of experience as an active member of this website, you STILL would have a snowball's chance in hell of inspiring the change that you're seeking. The reasons are plentiful. What you're proposing would generate the following possible liabilities and headaches for the persons who operate this website:

1. international commerce and customs sanctions
2. mail fraud litigation
3. general fraud litigation
4. big, big required upgrades in security and encryption software
5. identity theft and sensitive personal information theft
6. encouragement of pedophile and scammer traffic to the site
7. internet libel/defamation issues and encouragement of hacker traffic
8. copyright and contract language lawsuits
9. and many, many more

If you would like to hire a website designer, a lawyer, a customer service staff, and make appropriate and necessary legal contacts with Activision, a payment and/or middleman agency, an internet security & encryption firm, and multiple nations' law enforcement agencies, among others, then please, by all means, go for it.

You go on worrying about forum signatures and your existence that's being held down by the lack of ability to trade goods on a non-commerce non-trading website. You'll just have to use eBay, Amazon, or Craigslist like the rest of us.

Stfu you were new at some point too. Clearly you can't read as he said in the first post.

BahamutBreaker, where did you go? Oh! You got suspended for being a jerk on here. Whether we are adults or kids we should still treat each other in a respectful manner. Having a discussion about something (whether it will happen or not) shouldn't bring about so much hatred and nastiness as it has. Lets see what identity BahamutBreaker will come back as. He is going to be a "newb" all over again!

Gnorcing does not make you banned. Right now he is just suspended for a little while. He'll be back, as BahamutBreaker.

Yeah, I spoke too soon I guess.

Things got WAY off topic & out of line.. don't take this out on Gooch when he made the post for ALL the ppl who want a B/S/T topic section because noone else had. just cuz he started the topic does not make any of this his fault. And HONESTLY if there are under 13 yr olds here (whether they should or shouldn't) doesn't matter because obviously theyre super mature about everything OR they get banned for being obnoxious. so what's the deal guys??

^ THIS

Quote: terranakari

And HONESTLY if there are under 13 yr olds here (whether they should or shouldn't) doesn't matter because obviously theyre super mature about everything OR they get banned for being obnoxious. so what's the deal guys??

Because there are potential legal implications that could end up with the hosts of this site getting fined, Dark getting fined and/or the site getting shut down?

The buy/sell/trade thing is nothing more than a *preference* of the administrator of the site. By all means, he is welcome to that preference.

The 'Under 13' thing is a legal issue that can have real-world consquences that could end up destroying this site. If anyone here is under 13 and they're willing to allow that to happen, then... ick.

Dark can't do this. Its too risky for him to get fined and forced to shutdown darkSpyro.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: terranakari

And HONESTLY if there are under 13 yr olds here (whether they should or shouldn't) doesn't matter because obviously theyre super mature about everything OR they get banned for being obnoxious. so what's the deal guys??

Because there are potential legal implications that could end up with the hosts of this site getting fined, Dark getting fined and/or the site getting shut down?

The buy/sell/trade thing is nothing more than a *preference* of the administrator of the site. By all means, he is welcome to that preference.

The 'Under 13' thing is a legal issue that can have real-world consquences that could end up destroying this site. If anyone here is under 13 and they're willing to allow that to happen, then... ick.

If every site were to get fined for having users who are 13 or younger, the whole internet would be shut down.

Really. Do you think that anything you say or do will convince Dark to change the rules? Just look at how much it took to convince him to get mods. I guarantee that you're not going to change his mind about this.

And as ItsJustMe said, this is a fan site, not a collector site. I doubt darkSpyro was ever intended to be used for buying/selling/trading things.

Quote: Kitty

If every site were to get fined for having users who are 13 or younger, the whole internet would be shut down.

It's not about "having users" under 13. It's about collecting personal data from them (like, say, an e-mail address at time of registration).

This is why most sites have the age verifications on them. Go to Hotmail, Youtube or Gamefaqs. Try to sign up for an account. One of the first things they ask is your age. Now, tell it you're ten years old. Registration stops right there.

Now, that's not to say you *can't* register children under 13 - but there are strict guidelines as to what you can do, what the users can do and what can be done with that information.

This is why the hosts of this forum, Curse, clearly state in their terms of service that you CANNOT register for an account if you're 13 or younger. Because they know they can be held liable for legal fees.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: Kitty

If every site were to get fined for having users who are 13 or younger, the whole internet would be shut down.

It's not about "having users" under 13. It's about collecting personal data from them (like, say, an e-mail address at time of registration).

This is why most sites have the age verifications on them. Go to Hotmail, Youtube or Gamefaqs. Try to sign up for an account. One of the first things they ask is your age. Now, tell it you're ten years old. Registration stops right there.

Now, that's not to say you *can't* register children under 13 - but there are strict guidelines as to what you can do, what the users can do and what can be done with that information.

This is why the hosts of this forum, Curse, clearly state in their terms of service that you CANNOT register for an account if you're 13 or younger. Because they know they can be held liable for legal fees.

Thats for a Curse account. The Host has no control over the content of the Forum, they just provide a Platform for the site. Remember that the site was previously the hosted in UK

IT DOES NOT MATTER where it was previously hosted. It makes absolutly no difference.

It's hosted in the US now and is required to abide by US law.

Also, if you read the Curse Terms of Service, they apply to all websites hosted by Curse.

Whatever. I'm not getting pushed out of this website because some guy with a nice car and a smart shirt tells me to... I refuse to budge

Even if you are under the age of 13, Curse simply says to not show any personal information. Or like on most servers, they'll likely take down your account and ban your IP.

So I have to leave?

Thanks for ruining everyone's day UncleBob. It must feel good to have broken so many kids Hopes and Dreams...

I'm just stating what the law is. I didn't write it and I don't enforce it. It would have likely never even come up if not for the fact a moderator acknowledged that he is aware of the fact the site is currently breaking Federal Law.

And look at it this way - should all of the users who are thankful for this site and follow the rules have to risk losing the site altogether simply because a few kids think that the rules shouldn't apply to them? Should Dark have to risk paying fines because you don't think the rules apply to you?

Basically, are you willing to destroy this site? 'If I can't use it, no one can!"?

To all the users that continue to say that dark wont budge, & use the "look how long it took to get mods" excuse, i bet you also thought back then that dark wouldn't budge on getting mods, but LOOK! he did... don't discourage us to fight for what we want. it's our right to disscuss this openly for him to hear ALL sides of this topic. if we can show him just how safe it rly is then he might be pursuaded. nothing is ever set in stone... THERE IS A CHANCE!! & were trying to fight for it by showing just how many users would benefit from it.

I disapprove of the idea of the site becoming something like ebay because some users want to trade on the message boards.

To all the users that continue to say that dark wont budge, & use the "look how long it took to get mods" excuse, i bet you also thought back then that dark wouldn't budge on getting mods, but LOOK! he did... don't discourage us to fight for what we want. it's our right to disscuss this openly for him to hear ALL sides of this topic. if we can show him just how safe it rly is then he might be pursuaded. nothing is ever set in stone... THERE IS A CHANCE!! & were trying to fight for it by showing just how many users would benefit from it.

bye.....

A note of clarification - I'm not in any role of authority on this site. I cannot tell anyone to leave, nor can I set policy for this site.

Additionally, I am not a laywer. My comments on COPPA are nothing more than my understanding of how it works from reading the law, reading about it, how other sites implement restrictions based on it and court rulings on it (via news articles). I urge Dark and those at Curse to review the information themselves or consult legal advice if they have questions.

Quote: terranakari

To all the users that continue to say that dark wont budge, & use the "look how long it took to get mods" excuse, i bet you also thought back then that dark wouldn't budge on getting mods, but LOOK! he did... don't discourage us to fight for what we want. it's our right to disscuss this openly for him to hear ALL sides of this topic. if we can show him just how safe it rly is then he might be pursuaded. nothing is ever set in stone... THERE IS A CHANCE!! & were trying to fight for it by showing just how many users would benefit from it.

If you don't mind waiting another nine years or so for him to even consider changing his mind, feel free, but at that point Skylanders will most likely become irrelevant to you. Not to mention if the site would even be up until then.

Okay, so I registered right before I turned thirteen, but, I'm thirteen now, so am I still breaking rules? If this makes any sense...

You're not under the age of 13, HotDog. At least not anymore.

I have to leave?

Quote: terranakari

To all the users that continue to say that dark wont budge, & use the "look how long it took to get mods" excuse, i bet you also thought back then that dark wouldn't budge on getting mods, but LOOK! he did... don't discourage us to fight for what we want. it's our right to disscuss this openly for him to hear ALL sides of this topic. if we can show him just how safe it rly is then he might be pursuaded. nothing is ever set in stone... THERE IS A CHANCE!! & were trying to fight for it by showing just how many users would benefit from it.

THE POINT... is that Dark took a long time to even budge on something that was clearly needed (I mean really, a single admin managing a forum as large as this by himself?). And that it would take a long time to convince him to change the rules. If he ever does so, which I doubt.

Quote: Sleepy0429

So I have to leave?

Quote: Sleepy0429

bye.....

Quote: Sleepy0429

I have to leave?

No. You don't have to leave.

If this site became one of those "Over 13" Sites, it woudn't change anything.People would simply put that they were born in 2000 or less, and voila.The whole idea of "Protecting Children" is rendered useless, as it can be so easily bypassed.Sometimes all you have to do is refresh the page, put in that you were born in 2000, and Congratulations!

At least that's what I do.