Quote:
Originally posted by horndog
Well that is kinda dumb, I see ccbills point, but since when does having a credit card prove your 18?
I had a credit card at 17, and that was 15years ago.
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Under the Helms Amendment, the use of a verified credit card creates a rebuttable presumption that the user is over the age of 18. The Helms Amendment was the law upon which the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) was patterned. The idea is that by requiring a credit card, there is some degree of certainty that the user is not a minor.
Can someone under the age of 18 possess a credit card? Yes, however to get the credit card, there has to be an application. A credit card application is a contract and if you are not old enough to sign a contract you're required to have a joint signature from a parent or guardian who then assumes the responsiblity of monitoring and managing purchases made on that credit card. So, if "Daddy" gives his son some plastic in the son's name, "Daddy" is responsible for the monitoring of the use of that credit card.
Therefore when a valid credit card is used to purchase a site membership, the site owner is no longer held liable if the purchaser was a minor, the responsibility lies with the minor's parents/guardians.
The Helms Amendment and COPA are also the foundation upon which AVS systems are built. (Valid Credit Card=Age Verification)
To my knowledge there is no legal precedent for a 1-900 phone call counting as age verification, so some companies choose to use 900 billing and others don't. (Alot of sponsors that use Ibill still don't offer 1-900 billing for this reason)