Just Plain Strange - Google Bans Kids
Category: Internet, General NewsPosted: March 27, 2008 05:35PM
Author: razor
Under 18? No Google for you. In what has to be one of the weirdest news items I've read recently, Google's Terms of Service prohibit any person under the age of 18 from utilizing any Google Web properties. So that means no searching, no YouTube, no Gmail. At issue here is Google's stance that a person under 18 is not capable of signing a binding contract - and that apparently you need a contract to search the Internet. Logically, if you have to be 18 to use Google's properties, you'd have to be 18 to have a Myspace page, right? Nope - Myspace only requires users to be 16 to publicly post their "preferences", religion, and those awesome pictures of that party at that kid's house when his parents were out of town. Facebook? 13. What makes this even more odd is that Google is sponsoring an art contest - Doodle 4 Google - for students K-12, where the students are supposed to draw up a new Google company logo. The winner gets $10,000, and their logo will appear on Google's homepage for one day. Let's just hope the winner's parents dont mind typing Google's URL so the junior Picasso can see his/her art...
