User blog comment:Wetstream/MAJORLY IMPORTANT NEWS/@comment-20644-20131118054522

Hey guys. I'm Brandon, a Community Support Manager here at Wikia. I wanted to comment on this, since I know a lot of you have some strong feelings about COPPA as it relates to Wikia. First, to give you a quick overview if you didn't click the Wikipedia link in Wetstream's post, I want to briefly explain what COPPA is. COPPA stands for Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. It was signed into US federal law by President Clinton in 1998 and took effect in 2000, so it's a law that companies like Wikia have been following for thirteen years now. What COPPA does is say that companies like Wikia can't collect personal information from individuals under the age of 13. That is why our Terms of Use state you must be 13 years old or older to have an account on Wikia.

I want to be clear about something: the law does not say it is illegal for someone under 13 to register an account. It says it is illegal for us to let someone under 13 register an account. That's why our enforcement ends up applying to everyone, Americans and non-Americans alike. Wikia is an American company, and it governs our behavior. That means we don't have a choice but to enforce it for all of our users. By signing up for an American website, you have to accept all applicable American laws that come with it. COPPA is one of them.

Just to be extra clear, COPPA does not govern what you as Wikia users do. It governs what Wikia the company does.

Now, I've seen some comments about how we should do things another way, or provide warnings, or other things of that sort. The short answer is that we can't. To comply with the law, we need to close the account of anyone we find to be under the age of 13. We don't seek those people out, but we will act on reports that users send us. If you disagree with that, the people you need to take it up with are the members of the United States Congress. If you're an American, you can write to your local representative or US Senator telling them that you disagree and that you would like to see the law changed. If you're not an American, send a letter to your embassy in the United States so they can send it to the appropriate member of Congress. As a federal law, COPPA can only be changed by an act of Congress and the signature of the President of the United States. Wikia can't change that.

Now, I want to try and alleviate some of the other concerns that have been brought up:


 * We do NOT retroactively close accounts. If you signed up when you were 12, but you are now 13, we will NOT close your account.
 * We do not ask admins to police this aspect of our Terms of Use. Admins are not required to ban or report people they know to be underage. The Terms of Use are a contract between Wikia and each individual user, and only Wikia is responsible for enforcing it.
 * That being said, keep something in mind: if you try to register an account and use your real date of birth but you're under 13, you won't be able to sign up. The registration system won't let you. That means that anyone on Wikia who you know to be under 13 created their account based on a lie. Now, I know that won't bother most people, but it's important to have perspective.

Finally, some advice for everyone: whether you're 13, 16, or anything else, no one is requiring you to say your age in public. At the end of the day, that is your personal information, and it's best to keep personal information to yourself online. It's how you can make sure you're staying safe on the internet. To that end, you also shouldn’t be having big conversations about age. I would encourage you not to get caught up in talking about and deleting people's ages from pages here. That simply draws attention to personal information.

That being said, if you have any questions about anything I just said, please let me know and I would be happy to answer them. Thanks.