Online Age Verification May Prove Complex

Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:10 PM EDT
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{"commentId":209495,"authorDomain":"strongbad"}
Sean Balsiger

I agree with the last two paragraphs. Parents just need to teach their kids not to give out their information online. It's not that hard.

The thing that really burnt my biscuits was the lawsuit about the girl who was sexually assaulted by the 19 year old. Why is that Myspace's fault? Maybe the 14 year old girl shouldn't have been giving her phone number out to what she believed to be a 17 or 18 year old. The mom just wants some quick money because her daughter is stupid.

As we know anyone who really wants to get around anything they do to protect people is going to do it. It really just makes it a pain in the ass for the 99% of legitimate users.

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  • 2 votes
Reply#1 - Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:05 PM EDT
{"commentId":209552,"authorDomain":"media"}
Matt May

I disagree completely with the Connecticut AG quoted here. There is no magic bullet for managing identity. As long as you have 12-year-olds who can't create accounts with their data until they're 13, and as long as you have people over 18 who want to pretend they're younger, the data will be unreliable. I've been thinking hard about the larger topic of Internet identity for a long time, and the only strategies that come close to solving it require us to boil the ocean, so to speak. And even then, those with the most to gain will still find a way to circumvent them. This problem is intractable, and the sooner people realize that, the quicker they can focus on teaching kids about how to protect themselves online.

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  • 2 votes
Reply#2 - Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:37 PM EDT
{"commentId":210813,"authorDomain":"basseq"}
John Whittet

The idea of requiring a credit card, fundamentally, is a decent one. You must be 18 to have one, so if you can supply a valid card number, then your age is verified. However, two problems on the surface. One, not everyone over 18 has a credit card. And two, people do not like giving out their credit card numbers to potential spammers and theives who will make unsolicited charges.

But the problem here is not "are you over 18", but rather, "are you under 18" to keep the predators from posing as someone else. How can you prove that you can't have a credit card? It's tantamount to proving that you're not a millionare: I can prove that I am a millionare by showing you the money, but proving I don't have it is much more complicated.

There will always be crimes an accidents, but it is the parents' jobs to teach their children to be careful on the internet, much like teaching them not to get in the car with strangers. There is no "magic bullet", only prudence.

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  • 2 votes
Reply#3 - Tue Jul 18, 2006 1:52 PM EDT
{"commentId":211027,"authorDomain":"media"}
Matt May

It's not strictly true that possession of a card equals 18 or over. Especially now that there are debit cards and gift cards. Not to mention parents who will sign for cards for their children. But you're right about the complexity of proving a negative, and the value of education. It's really the only thing that can reduce risk overall.

{"commentId":211027,"threadId":"16087","contentId":"290852","authorDomain":"media"}
    #3.1 - Tue Jul 18, 2006 3:46 PM EDT
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