thanks for bringing this up, Romanski!
the truth is that for LEGAL reasons we MUST collect the full birthdate at registration (see http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.shtm ). all information on the registration page is required at this time.
however, we are considering removing that information from profiles once a member is registered and making it then optional to show.
thoughts?
however, we are considering removing that information from profiles once a member is registered and making it then optional to show.
thoughts?
Hey thats pretty good erik! Chess.com just keeps gettin' better!
> for LEGAL reasons we MUST collect the full birthdate at registration
> (see http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.shtm )
Your english is better than mine ;) but.. are you sure that you MUST collect?
It reads:
"Who Must Comply
If you operate a commercial Web site or an online service directed to children under 13 that collects personal information from children or if you operate a general audience Web site and have actual knowledge that you are collecting personal information from children, you must comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act."
Thoughts:
1. When you would not collect in the first place.. you wouldn't need to comply with this rule.
2. Keeping users younger then 13 out is not an option, I think.
3. But why then publish their birthday, full name and when things really get worse (they filled in everything) even their hometown? Makes it even easier for child molesters... :(
4. Also.. it feels to me like "everybody in the world" (me ;) ) has to give up privacy because of some US law which is uncommon elsewhere.
5. I really think.. yes, make this info public only on request by the user. Also, why not making a special form for people under the age of 13?
Thanks, Erik.
1. thanks! and YES, we MUST ask because we do collect information from everyone on this site (including email address, etc).
2. why is keeping out younger users not an option? if they want to be on this site they need to do so with their parents.
4. i'm sorry you have to be affected by US laws :( but since I own this site and am affected, i must make sure the site complies.
5. the legal issues around allowing under-13 people on the site are incredibly complex and scary, and not something we can tackle at this time. it is NOT easy or trivial.
3. what is the part that everyone is nervous about? is it the birthDAY, or the YEAR? or both? i just have mine removed from my profile. should we show NONE by default? or just the year? i personally like knowing how old other players are and when their birthday is, but i'm open!
we have decided for now to just leave it like it is: you have FULL control over your profile. if you don't want your birthday to show up, just go to your profile and set it to -- | -- | --
:)
I think the toggle boxes are a great idea and if some choose to abuse the site maliciously there is always lawful ways to verify their true identity through the internet regardless if they choose to use avatars or not. It appears that the above (collection of personal info) Federal requirement applies to children under 13 only... as far as I could tell, so maybe a "Youth" section (Chess.com) for players restricted to this age group is appropriate to prevent possible "predatory" access.
OK.. I still have the following question: do site owners must specifically ask for the complete date - or is is enough when they require the users to be of a minimal age? Like "I hereby state that I am 13 years old or older [x]" --> No need to store any date.
I have the impression that far to many people do not realize that it is in fact NOT mandatory to input their birthday when registering.
"So what, it's their problem" one might argue.
But! The reason is.. the registration form looks like it is mandatory to input the day of birth. This is also what I did in the first place, only later to realize that:
a) everybody in the world can see it
b) it is not mandatory and the only way for the birthday not to be shown in the public profile is to completely delete it from the profile.
My question is: why collect the birthday at all? No data that is really needed should be collected in the first place. Too much is beeing stored about us everywhere nowadays.
To chess.com users: did it not struck onto you that so many people here have their birthday (and full name) in their profile? More often than one is to encounter that on other sites, usually. Yes, we are a chess community, we are somewhat different, and so far the community is relatively small. But should people be "tricked" into entering their data?
My petition is: please design the registration form so that it is clear that this field is voluntary. (And what other fields are voluntary, too)
However. After reading the section on the collection of information..
http://www.chess.com/legal.html#privacypolicy
.."maybe" this all is by intention?
If so, please consider this recent development:
http://pressesc.com/news/97208082007/privacy-winning-search-engine-war
Maybe just the year of birth would do it? Maybe this would serve the commercial interests of chess.com well enough - and in the same time be an acceptable solution in regard to privacy for chess.com users?
Greetins & Thanks for chess.com!
Roman