software terms-of-service minor age fair-dealing
Why aren&#39;t software companies required to make good faith efforts to enforce age restrictions?
<p>There are a lot of products and technologies available that support children asking for parental consent before purchases, etc.  (Amazon, Microsoft, etc...)</p>
<p>And, it really isn't that hard to do to confirm whether someone is an adult, (at least in the U.S. and with IDs).</p>
<p><em><strong>So, why aren't software companies, or at least their distributors, required to make good faith efforts to enforce age restrictions?</strong></em></p>
<p>For example, maybe an answer would address:</p>
<p>Do age restriction laws somehow indicate what a good-faith effort should look like? Or, do these laws not actually exist, therefore not requiring a good-faith effort?</p>
<p>I suppose this is more or less addressing the theories of good-faith practices to comply with laws, and not specifically this issue.</p>

<p>First of all, the only real answer to &quot;Why doesn't the law require this or that?&quot; is &quot;Because the legislature hasn't passed such a law.&quot; In the US, Congress or a state legislature could, if they chose to, pass such a law. I see nothing unconstitutional about it.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And, it really isn't that hard to do to confirm whether someone is an adult, (at least in the U.S. and with IDs).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Actually, it is quite hard to confirm a person's real age and identity over the internet, if you assume that the person is willing to lie, and has access to a credit card and ID of an adult, which many teens can obtain if they wish. The usual means of validating age, say for entry into a bar, involve physical inspection of an ID, and comparison of it with the person by a trusted checker. Not easy over the net.</p>

<p>Depending on the circumstances, companies may be required to make some effort. For example the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act  <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/chapter-91" rel="nofollow noreferrer">15 U.S.C. §§ 6501–6506</a> (or see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a>) provides for when website operators must obtain &quot;verifiable parental consent&quot;.</p>
<p>Examples of how to obtain consent (<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-questions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FTC</a>):</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a consent form sent by mail, fax or scanned and emailed to the operator</p>
</li>
<li><p>credit card, debit card, or other online payment system</p>
</li>
<li><p>a toll-free telephone number or videoconference</p>
</li>
<li><p>checking the parent's government-issued ID against the government ID database</p>
</li>
<li><p>requiring the parent to answer a series of questions the non-parent would find difficult to answer</p>
</li>
<li><p>Using facial recognition technology to compare a photo ID with another photo of the parent</p>
</li>
</ul>

<p>For applications sold on Apple’s App Store, Apple lets me specify an age restriction, and I suppose that apple does something with that age restriction, although I have never checked what exactly. I assume ticking that box would be enough.</p>
<p>Anything beyond that, if it is more than just asking for the users age, is a <em>substantial</em> cost for a small company. Websites that really shouldn’t be viewed by anyone underage usually just have a button that says “yes, I’m 18 or over” and another that says “no, I’m not 18 yet”.</p>
<p>BTW Most people don’t check whether something is “suitable” for a four year old, but whether it’s “harmful”. So an introduction to Einstein’s general relativity theory will likely be available to four year olds.</p>
