Raising a Generation of Fakers

Kids under the age of 13 quickly learn that there's no sane reason to tell the truth on the web. One of the byproducts of a law called COPPA (Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act). It was created to put parents in control over what information is collected online from their children and who that information can be shared with. It also included how kids may share their personal information in chat rooms and online forums. Boiled down, this means that kids under the age of 13 cannot do most "cool things" on web sites without the express permission of their parents.

The reality of the situation is that kids under the age of 13 who visit kids' web sites can't enter contests, play with other kids, fill out questionnaires, play online games, shop, or do most anything that requires a registration to the site unless mom or dad OKs it.

Today there are various degrees of okaying these activities, but all of them cost a company money to enforce. For instance, when an underage child asks to register at a site, the site can send an email to the parents verifying permission. Or they can require a parent's ID—credit card or printed form with signature to be sent back via email or snail mail. They can call the parents, use a faxback system, or even send snail mail. Needless to say, it's all rather involved and far from immediate. By the time the parents respond, the kids have moved on.

Any kid worth his or her salt will bypass the process and simply fake an age. It's just too difficult to do it any other way. Kids lie on the web because it's expeditious and the only way you can get to the fun stuff.

Most web sites sponsoring fun contests or other interactive activities protect themselves by simply stating on their site "Must be 13 to participate." This exacerbates the problem by increasing the temptation. What kid wants to bug their parents every time they feel like playing a cool new game?

How do we break the pattern of encouraging kids to lie? I had lunch with an interesting company called Privo. They are what we call an infomediary—offering a process that would allow parents to register themselves and their children and set up permissions for them. Parents would need to  verify their identity one time only, supplying some form of unique ID during the registration process. Then, any web site that was Privo compliant would be automatically accessible to the kids with the right permissions.

No more bugging the 'rents. Kids with permission would be allowed to participate in chat, photo sharing, social networking, playing games, entering contests, etc.

Sounds like a great idea, doesn't it? Well, web sites, and for that matter legislators, balk at ideas like this one because they're afraid of the liability. The social networking sites like MySpace, Xanga and FaceBook know that what they don't know doesn't hurt them. Today they can simply shrug and say, "I have no idea how old these people really are," and be let off the hook. Once they know that an underaged kid is using their site, MySpace-like sites become much more liable. They don't want that headache.

Answers like Privo's intermediary kids' registration sites will not be bulletproof. Nothing is. Still, solutions like this one move the dial forward, and best of all, they'll encourage kids to start telling the truth about who they really are, without feeling as though they'll suffer the consequences.

A complex issue, but if we don't start talking solutions we're looking at a generation that's been encouraged to fake it.