Why can't kids under 13 ask questions?

[Vicky]

There are many reasons for deleting Underage users from Y!A.

The first reason, is a LEGAL matter.
There are laws about marketing and advertising to minors on the internet.
COPPA - Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
http://www.coppa.org/coppa.htm
read ^those details and you may understand why Yahoo! MUST (by law) delete underage users

But more importantly (in my opinion) are a zillion safety reasons.
Kids don't realize that all the little tidbits of information that they post here (in questions and in answers) CAN be used by predators and endanger them in REAL LIFE.

The "friends" that kids (and even naive teens & adults) *think* that they are communicating with online... could actually be your worst enemy, a neighborhood predator, a kidnapper, or worse.

I've seen innocent_looking Polls, that ask questions that are actually common security questions for password reset/recovery systems. So hackers can use these answers to compromise you and your computer.

Adults can pretend to be anything (or anyone) that they think you'll fall for.
(ie: "Hey Im 13 too! email me!") in order to interact in private.
^can be used as a ploy to gain private communications with an underage child. And Yahoo! does NOT want kids to be in private communications with people that could be unsafe.

Posting questions about insecurities and vulnerabilities can also arm a predator with information to be used against kids

Posting about wants, needs, likes, and dislikes, .. can also help predators.
ie: "what can i do to make my Mom get me a Hamster?"..... next thing you know a stranger in a van pulls up to you on your way home from soccer practice and offers you a free hamster.

and kids give out WAY too much information online!
Ive seen kids give out their entire daily "schedules"
Including when & where they go places.

What people don't realize is EVERYTHING THAT YOU POST ONLINE, is searcheable. Even after it is deleted! It can still be found if someone truly wants to find it.

There are other sites that kids can go to. There are also family accounts that can be monitored by your parent or guardian.

There are over 90 million users in Yahoo!Answers. What are your chances that some of them could not be who they appear to be?

I recommend that ALL users read up about internet safety BEFORE ever posting a word online.

http://safely.yahoo.com/
http://kids.yahoo.com/parents/online-safety
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EDIT for additional details
Y!A is not the only site that restricts user ages. Facebook has launched a crackdown on under 13 users too.
See: http://critograph.lynchburg.edu/x28804.html
In fact they have a "Governance page" for friends, teachers, parents/relatives and neighbors to report underage. Facebook is deleting about 20,000 accounts per month.

Formspring also has the same restriction.
See: http://about.formspring.me/terms
"The Site, Services and Formspring Content are intended solely for persons who are 13 or older. Any access to or use of the Site, Services and Formspring Content by anyone under 13 is expressly prohibited."
And Twitter says:
"Twitter is not for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you become aware that your child under the age of 13 has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us at privacy@twitter.com, and we will take steps to remove this information and terminate the account. You can learn more by visiting Twitter’s Privacy Policy."
see:
http://support.twitter.com/groups/33-rep...-teen-tips