COPPA (can any lawyers advise?)

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brimstoneSalad
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COPPA (can any lawyers advise?)

Post by brimstoneSalad »

COPPA doesn't apply to non commercial sites, but I'd like to implement advertising here so the site can pay for itself (and so we can afford to pay to advertise elsewhere).
I added a 14th rule to the forum rules recently. Is this adequate for compliance?
Forum Rules wrote: 14. This is a teenager and adult oriented site. As far as we know, all of our members are 13 or older (We do not ask, nor are we required to ask, user age on signup).
While all personal information sharing is discouraged, this is a particularly serious issue for children.
In accordance with U.S. and international law, you must be 13 years or older to use this site on your own. Hypothetically, if you are under 13 (if you are 12 or under), your parents must register an account for you and supervise your online activity (it must be an account your parents control -- children can not have their own accounts here), and you may not post or share any personal information.
This includes:
  • First and last name;
  • A home or other physical address including street name and name of a city or town; [Never do this]
  • Online contact information; [Your parents must sign up for you with their own contact information]
  • A screen or user name that functions as online contact information; [That means DON'T use the same username here and elsewhere]
  • A telephone number;
  • A social security number;
  • A persistent identifier that can be used to recognize a user over time and across different websites or online services;
  • A photograph, video, or audio file, where such file contains a child’s image or voice;
  • Geolocation information sufficient to identify street name and name of a city or town; or
  • Information concerning the child or the parents of that child that the operator collects online from the child and combines with an identifier described above.
If it comes to our attention that a child under 13 years of age is using this site and sharing private information, the personal information in question will be removed immediately, and private contact mechanisms disabled (i.e. no PMing, and no email). We do not provide a mechanism for parental consent to publishing personal information because this is functionally impossible for us to verify. This site is not targeted to users under 13, and the personal information content of children is simply not allowed even with parental consent. Any personal information believed to be shared by a child under 13 should be reported.
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