Announcement by SonyAnnouncement by Sony
March 24th, 2:30pm
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A new law goes into effect April 21, 2000 (The Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act) which imposes new rules regarding the collection of personal
information from children under the age of 13. Because The Station is not
directed to children under the age of 13, we can no longer provide or extend
the memberships of individuals under the age of 13. Accordingly, as of April
21, the user name and password of anyone under the age of 13 will be deactivated.
We are reviewing our database of registration information provided to the Station by members to determine which of our members are under the age of 13. If you entered your birth date incorrectly, please update it now.
We will provide information to parents of premium game players under the age of 13 to enable them to switch their child's account to their own at their option.
-The EverQuest Team
"...This means that anything you tell an internet company about yourself (including this site) must NEVER be given without your parents knowing. It must never be given in secret. It must never be given without an actual "YES" from the mouth of your Mom or Dad. If you win a prize or make a friend and you want to give out your home address, Mom or Dad have to know about it. If you sign up for a club or want to get a newsletter, Mom or Dad have to say it is O.K. They have to know what you are telling the websites and people you come across on the internet!
You might think that having to ask your Mom or Dad before signing up for something or saying anything about yourself online is really lame - but that's not true. The truth is that honesty is actually a very cool thing and sharing the truth about your online activities with Mom and Dad is ultra-cool-hipsterrific!! Telling Mom and Dad what is happening in your world - both online AND off - is the best thing you could ever do. It keeps you AND your family safe, it lets you and your parents have something to talk about at dinner and it takes away from the fact that you only got 6 out of 10 on your spelling test! But most importantly, when you are online, now it is the law!..."
Summary / Solution / Truth
Weather "The Station" and EverQuest are connected is unclear. For those who have not been to Sony's EverQuest main site, they have this thing called "The Station" which you make a membership to in order to post, play games, chat etc.. I think EverQuest falls under this category as we must have a "Station Account" in order to enter EverQuest.
It's good to see that the Government and Companies are taking steps to both protect the citizens of the online worlds, in this case the very young, as well as inform the parents of what is going on. While it is the responsibility of the parent to guide the child in what to and what not to do, they can't be watched every waking moment of every waking day.
When I was younger than 13 it was an easy task. There was no internet, there was no online multi player games, there were in fact arcades which were barely starting to appear in the world. Now, anyone can hop on the web at school. Now schools are connected to the web, kids have free reign. Type 'any vaguely naughty word you can think of'.com and boom, 99% chance you will hit a porn site. Click on any banner, and it most likely takes you to a 'you've won, just sign in here' page. Parent's can no longer fully control everything their children see and do.
I was very concerned with the Announcement of a movie and action figures for EverQuest, that this would drop the age range to below this level the government has imposed. Mind you I have nothing against the young, or their ability for information exchange in todays world. But the ease of this activity, at least in America with computers being everywhere, scares me.
I'm glad to see laws are being put in place to help guide and protect the young when there parents may not be around to help guide them themselves.