Comment on September 2026 Newsletter, Volume 215

  1. xblackspiderviperx Tue 06 Oct 2026 10:08AM UTC

    vivian

    girl you need to be 13 for ao3 though i kinda find it confusing since they dont sell ur data

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    1. MalcontentCatboy Tue 06 Oct 2026 03:35PM UTC

      COPPA is a US law that basically requires people be 13 to use any website.

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      1. xblackspiderviperx Tue 06 Oct 2026 05:15PM UTC

        vivian

        Actually COPPA is a US law that says you need to be 13 for digital consent or to have your data on sites/apps sold, accessing a website is not inherently 13+ unless the site sells your personal data or you consent to the processing of your data for adverts or selling. If you needed to be 13+ to access any website in the first place it would be difficult for schools and stuff.

        Last Edited Tue 06 Oct 2026 05:19PM UTC

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        1. MalcontentCatboy Tue 06 Oct 2026 10:02PM UTC

          It's not about selling data; it covers collection of and storage of data, no matter the use, though most lawsuits that have actually involved COPPA do end up being about marketing or sale of data. That is why AO3 requires 13+ along with effectively every other website. Viewing websites usually doesn't require collection of data, at least not personally identifying data as is generally accepted, so it does not apply to viewing alone; however, allowing anything at all to be posted at least potentially does constitute collecting data, even if it is anonymous. For example, a completely anonymous comment box could in theory be used by a 12 year old to post their name, which would be a violation.

          Schools probably have exemptions generally speaking (IANAL but that makes sense), and the government isn't usually subject to those sorts of laws in the first place. The government already has your data. Parents can also permit those under 13 to give their data to sites, which I imagine would make most schools fine; children are not typically going to enroll themselves in non-governmental schools. However, for practical reasons as well as CYA, most sites will not accept that permission and make the 13+ thing a hard requirement.

          It's ultimately up to the people who run websites if they take obvious BS like "I wasn't born yesterday, I was born last week!" as something that constitutes needing to remove the person. I've seen plenty that did so, but I seriously doubt that would actually hold up in a court. The problem is that most website owners don't want to get to that point because of one user and will just ban them, again for CYA.

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          1. xblackspiderviperx Tue 06 Oct 2026 11:58PM UTC

            vivian

            oh that makes sense

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    3. gaytheprayaway_mlmTWINK Tue 06 Oct 2026 07:44PM UTC

      thing

      i was joking i wasn’t born yesterday 😭😭😭

      Last Edited Tue 06 Oct 2026 07:47PM UTC

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      1. xblackspiderviperx Tue 06 Oct 2026 11:58PM UTC

        vivian

        ik that but saying that is kinda weird on a site like this T_T

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        1. gaytheprayaway_mlmTWINK Wed 07 Oct 2026 02:02AM UTC

          thing

          it’s an extreme exaggeration, like saying i was born 5 trillion years ago
          it’s obvious a week old or a day old baby are both unable to type in perfect english

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          1. xblackspiderviperx Wed 07 Oct 2026 09:12AM UTC

            vivian

            i know that but its kind of strange to say, also i like ur username :)

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            1. xblackspiderviperx Wed 07 Oct 2026 09:13AM UTC

              vivian

              also i set my time zone to BST and it says you said this at 3am was it actually 3am where you were when you said that T_T

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