Are You Under 18 And Are You Regularly Using Google? Then You Are Violating Cyber Laws!
Almost every website (or to be precise those websites which are a established company in itself) on Internet has its Terms Of Service (TOS) which as per the laws must be followed by its users or else the company holds the right to kick that user off its website or drag him/her to court!
Similarly Google has some surprising lines in its TOS:
“You may not use … Google’s products, software, services and web sites … and may not accept the Terms if … you are not of legal age to form a binding contract with Google.
Surprised? Unfortunately this is true. It means if your are under 18 (as that is the legal age in almost every country today) then you are NOT permitted to use Google search, YouTube, Orkut, Google News, Google Images etc. This fact was found out by Chris on Cnet and he goes on to reveal some more exciting (or funny) facts on Google’s part.
When contacted about the matter, a Google spokesperson initially told me that “users need to be at least 13 years old to use Gmail.”
However, when I pointed out that the language in the company’s terms of service contradicted her statement, she clarified her remarks, stating that: “We require users to be able to form a legally binding contract in order to use our services. The actual age required to form a legally binding contract may differ based on jurisdiction.”
When I asked what the company would do if it found out that someone under 18 were using search, or Gmail, the spokesperson told me:
“We’re not in a position to verify the age or legal status of any user, given the tremendous number of users accessing Google services. That said, when we become aware of a user who is violating our Terms of Service, including not being of proper age to accept the Terms of Service, we take appropriate action, which could include the termination of the user’s Google Account.”
After first seeing Google’s no-kids policy in the company’s terms of service, any rational person would assume that it’s just standard legalese that all companies are required to include. However, it turns out that Google’s dot-com competition is far more kid friendly.
What I want to ask is do you ever care to read what any TOS says and do you ever follow that? It is good on companies part to say that “You must be X years of age to use our service” but how is the company verifying specially when Google isn’t linking to its TOS from its homepage?
How about a male blogger writing a TOS saying “If you are female then you agree to come with me on a date once you have visited my site?” 
Looks like Google people need to take help from a drug treatment center to come out of their dreams.
Tags: general google
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