[247] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Google Says: "We're for Adults Only" -- and a Legal
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Tue May 29 16:53:04 2007
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Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 12:54:08 -0700
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Google Says: "We're for Adults Only" -- and a Legal Trap for Us All
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000242.html
Greetings. As noted in:
http://blog.outer-court.com/forum/96793.html
Google's Terms of Service (TOS) apparently indicates that non-adults
may not use Google services.
This sort of language (restricting use to adults) is not uncommon on
many Web sites, even non-porn ones. It's usually used in an attempt
to provide self-protection for the sites in question. However, I
view it increasingly as something of a legal trap both for the sites
that say this and for their users.
Just a week ago, in "MySpace, Google, and the Path to Tyranny"
( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000240.html ), I noted the big
legislative push toward forcing "social networking" sites to
positively ID users (to prove they were of acceptable age), and how
this could easily spread to other types of sites, destroying the
ability to use the Internet anonymously without complicated
technical workarounds that would be beyond most users.
If this push proceeds along its proponents' desired path, it can only
be a matter of time before they make the next logical leap. This
would be to legislate that *any* site that says that children
shouldn't be allowed access -- even apparently Google according to
that TOS -- must do the same sort of positive ID verification that
will be mandated for social networking, porn sites, and the like.
It's only logical, and probably inevitable, if these ID regimes take
hold on the Net. Once you start down the Internet ID path using age
as the enabling factor, how can you assert that one type of site
must verify ID to prove age, but another type of site shouldn't have
to and can just operate on the honor system?
Worse, it will be easy for proponents to justify this at each stage
of the game, using particularly egregious cases as examples.
This is the "path to tyranny" that I wrote of. The day could come
when you not only have to be over 18, but you'd also need to show an
ID to use Google -- or most other sites. Does Google really want
this? Of course not. But this is the path that we are paving, ID
stone by stone.
While I do understand Google's short-term concerns relating to their
TOS, I assert that the long-term ramifications may be far more
serious given the increasingly oppressive push to get the Internet
"under control," by those who fear open communications most of all.
The enemies of free speech are enemies to Google and its users
alike, and that's only the beginning.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
- International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Founder, CIFIP
- California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com
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