http://www.cdt.org/legislation/105th/privacy/coppa.htmlThe above link is a set of
international laws. These laws state that you
must be 13 or over to provide personal information. These forums require an email address to sign up, hence the personal information criteria is fulfilled. Note that although COPPA states that parental consent is required for users under 13, we (and more importantly, InvisionFree) do
not accept parental consents due to the hassle it will cause.
How can we prove you are underage? We can't. Even linking to a website that says you're under 13 isn't enough. Anything that happens off these forums is none of our business. However, there is proof by
admission. If you state it in your profile or say it openly, you are admitting to being underage and will be dealt as such.
Never joke about being under 13, it's more dangerous than you think, and is definitely not worth the US$100,000 fine.
I just deleted a user who was supposedly 7 years old. Some of you might also remember another troublesome user, who turned out to be 8 years old but was banned for entirely different reasons. The concept is simple: we are not going to hunt every detail from you, but please,
please be smart enough not to admit to being underage. You can sign up when you're 6 for all we care, but as long you don't have any evidence to suggest that you are underage on the forums, you're fine.
Also note that if you signed up while under 13 and are past the age limit as of current, you're safe.
As a final note, this is a warning to all of you: if you have any post or anything in your profile that says you are under 13,
get rid of it. Change it, remove it, I don't care, but if I see someone's birthday saying they're 12 years old or under, they'll be receiving a kind email from me pointing out that their account has been deleted.
---Scott,
Administrator
