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Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

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Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#261

Post by matheusmoreira »

ska wrote: post #178
Method-X wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure but that doesn’t mean they should be banned for life . If you commit a crime as a minor does that follow you around for the rest of your life? At least where I live, it doesn’t.

> doesn’t mean they should be banned for life. It doesn't mean that it shouldn't though, either. I can't imagine any other way around this that doesn't amount to forcing a company to provide a service to someone they have rational reasons to not trust, which seems like globally at least it could cause more problems than it solves. To be clear I'm not saying we shouldn't encourage a company to re-consider when the per…

> forcing a company to provide a service

Nothing wrong with that. Just do it. Force them to provide service to the kids they banned for life due to frivolous violations of contracts nobody really reads anyway.

> it's hard to see how they should be forced to

It's really easy actually. Someone getting permabanned from a service for the unforgivable offense of being a child is completely out of proportion.

We already force them to provide service to the disabled and impaired without discrimination. It's okay to do it. Corporations don't have feelings. Nobody really cares how hard life is for the hundred billion dollar corporation either.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#262

Post by matheusmoreira »

kweingar wrote: post #23

I've been banned-for-life from a handful of services after I lied about my age as a kid. I can see both (all?) sides of this: - As a society we ought to be forgiving of harmless youthful indiscretions - As a business you shouldn't have to give second chances to people who blatantly defraud you - There is a big can of worms when it comes to doing business with minors on the internet. I don't think there's a solution a…

> As a business you shouldn't have to give second chances to people who blatantly defraud you

Says who? Society can easily make it so they have to. Besides, "fraud" is a bit too strong a word for a kid that simply didn't care about some company's idiotic "you have to be 13 to post here" message on the sign up screen.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#263

Post by matheusmoreira »

f1shy wrote: post #201
nerdawson wrote: post #50

Issues like this wouldn't exist if verification was required upfront. If you need to be at least 18 to use a particular service, and they're going to verify at some point , that point should be at the very start.

I wonder if it is clearly specified in the TOS that you may face a life ban...

On every terms of service document there is a clause that says "we can terminate our service to you unilaterally with no warning for any reason including no reason". It's basically the catch all exception handler of the legal world these corporations live in.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#264

Post by usr1106 »

that_guy_iain wrote: post #224
sophacles wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that there's enough of us that it would be more economical to relocate Australians and revert the continent to a penal colony.

I'm pretty sure half of the folk in tech at some point did illegal tech things in their teens. Rebelling and breaking the law in your teens is kind of normal and should be expected in my opinion.

Right. I physically broke into my high school to make a copy of the Commodore diskette station manual. We students had only access to PET casette tape readers. Cybercrime was not a thing yet.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#265

Post by matheusmoreira »

bell-cot wrote: post #6

IANAL, but... - Is the '18' adjusted when the local age of legal majority is not 18? - Are there jurisdictions where this policy is in clear conflict with local law or case law?

> Are there jurisdictions where this policy is in clear conflict with local law or case law?

Brazilian here. I just found one case where a judge legitimized a contract after a 16 year old misrepresented her age in order to contract a service and then tried to nullify the contract by claiming she was a minor at the time. Essentially the Google situation but reversed.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#266

Post by usr1106 »

HWR_14 wrote: post #258
lovingCranberry wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, in Germany children and teens can still enter contracts, as long as they are able to pay it with their monthly pocket money. Every single thing you buy here in a supermarket is also an implicit contract (Kaufvertrag). So, you could theoretically rent servers and buy ad space on Adsense as long your pocket money covers it. On the other hand: this is a liability for Google and $provider -- as most of them are post…

How would the counter party know how much pocket money any given child has?

I believe to remember that the contract is valid if a minor of that age typically has that amount of money available and can understand the consequences of the contract. So the business owner does not need to know how much money the particulur kid gets. If the particular kid gets exceptionally small pocket money the contract is valid and the parents are responsible for its legal implications.

Of course what is typical for a certain age might end up for interpretation by the courts in the worst case (and occasionally it does).

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#267

Post by Shank »

f1shy wrote: post #170
Shank wrote: post #15

As someone who operated on the "adult internet" with payment processors and related infrastructure without being 18, I still carry forward the constant fear that I'll be banned for retroactive Terms of Service violations incurred when I was a kid. It really sucks when it's services like AdSense because you're just screwed forever. I really really wish the internet was more supportive of "early hackers" who want to ex…

> I get that there are tons of implications around contract law and child labor here, but there really needs to be an escape hatch Specially, if you the intend is to "protect" children, this is not helpful.

> Specially, if you the intend is to "protect" children, this is not helpful.

No, rather, current US law means that technically minors can't enter into contracts until age 16, and many provisions aren't enforceable until 18 or local age-of-majority. Broadly, because of child labor laws, it's not possible for actual children to enter into work/employee relationships or sign contracts legally, just period. This is supposed to stop exploitation of children (sign this stupid contract and now you're encumbered without being fully cognizant of what that means or entails).

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#268

Post by felurx »

shp0ngle wrote: post #204
marcosdumay wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a business you shouldn't have to give second chances to people who blatantly defraud you Just to point the obvious, but corporations do not have any inherent right, and this specific one is already denied on some circumstances.

Corporations are people too

What does that mean? Because they very much are not in the literal sense.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#269

Post by oerpli »

judge2020 wrote: post #173
Shank wrote: post #15

As someone who operated on the "adult internet" with payment processors and related infrastructure without being 18, I still carry forward the constant fear that I'll be banned for retroactive Terms of Service violations incurred when I was a kid. It really sucks when it's services like AdSense because you're just screwed forever. I really really wish the internet was more supportive of "early hackers" who want to ex…

I'm in the opposite boat: I told paypal I was under 18 when I was under 18, called them, they kept my account locked, but as soon as I turned 18 I was unblocked and could used my original account. And I made the account when I was 11.

I made a PayPal account when I was 17 and used it happily for 12 years. In 2021 (being almost 30 years old) I got a payment from US (I'm in the EU) and had to provide ID to PayPal.

They figured out that I made my account a few months before my 18th birthday and permanently locked my account.

It seems all of this is arbitrary more or less random bullshit.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#270

Post by amadeuspagel »

narag wrote: post #71
Shank wrote: post #15

As someone who operated on the "adult internet" with payment processors and related infrastructure without being 18, I still carry forward the constant fear that I'll be banned for retroactive Terms of Service violations incurred when I was a kid. It really sucks when it's services like AdSense because you're just screwed forever. I really really wish the internet was more supportive of "early hackers" who want to ex…

I get that there are tons of implications around contract law and child labor here, but there really needs to be an escape hatch if a parent agrees to whatever activity is being done. While it's happening, it can be done using the parent's identity. After that, the same logic that prevents a minor to commit, because limited responsability, should be applied to avoid perpetual consequences. But as usual, companies app…

> Some day we'll finally get that regulation that draws a line between utilities and publishers...

I don't see how that's relevant here. Can a minor have an electricity contract?

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