Google's page for creating a new account is famous for only requiring your email address and your country, so it's strange to see that users from the United States have to enter their birthdays.
Google's terms of service say that "you may not use the Services and may not accept the Terms if you are not of legal age to form a binding contract with Google". If you try to enter a date like 4/28/2009, Google shows this message:
"In order to have a Google Account, you must meet certain age requirements. To learn more about online child safety, visit the Federal Trade Commission's website."
{ Thanks, Itamar. }
Same here in India.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't this defeat the purpose of Google Apps being used in schools???
ReplyDeleteGlad I signed up for mine a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd this the age is verified how?
ReplyDelete@steeleweed obviously, it won't be verified until there's a problem and even then, there'd be lots of ifs and buts.
ReplyDelete@alex read the FCC clause, don't think it's mentioned that children below 13 should not be allowed, most of the clauses mentioned consent from parents. Guess, that's too much of a work for Google, so might well avoid it ;-)
Varun
Why not just lie about your age like women do? :)
ReplyDelete@Anonymous or as a matter of fact, even men these days ;-) Infact, I wonder how many people actually give their exact birth-day on such registration sites!
ReplyDeleteIn Romania they ask for a phone number to send you a sms code or a voice call. No code, no account...
ReplyDelete@vlad:
ReplyDeleteI've just created a Gmail account without SMS verification.
@Alex_Chitu I hope you didn't waste a "precious, potential" username in your test ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy 8-year old keeps registering online as "1/1/1990"
ReplyDeleteThey also require a SMS number for the US (and the UK, and Israel)
ReplyDeleteSo, just fudge the date. Problem over.
ReplyDeleteGoogle could ban your account if you lie with your birthdate. Happened to me once at a pokersite. It was legal coz i accepted it at registration. Nobody reads the big chunk of text, everybody scrolls to "i accept".
ReplyDeleteToo bad it doesn't work on older versions !
ReplyDeleteI've tried 3 different dates,all over 13 years. it still gives that message. Googleing it,I see others have the same issue. G needs a calculator.
ReplyDeleteOnce you screw up with too recent a date, google doesn't seem to believe anything you do after that ... I'm going to blow awa y firefox and log in with ... WHAT'S THAT CRAP BROWSER CALLED?
ReplyDeletei hope i'm wrong but this is b.s. not everyone has a cellphone. some prefer the traditional landline OR they're poor and broke and can't afford a cell phone for the time being. we're in the midst of the worst recession since the last great depression.sounds to me like google is getting too fascist. i hope others don't follow pursuit.
ReplyDeletethis is ridiculous. sounds like google is getting far too fascist for it's own good. besides, not everyone chooses to have a cellphone and actually prefers a land line. also, many are unemployed. last i checked we were in the worst recession since the last great depression. sad BUT true.
ReplyDeleteGoogle Announces Plan To Destroy All Information It Can't Index
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theonion.com/articles/google-announces-plan-to-destroy-all-information-i,1783/
seriously im 32 and screwed up an dput the age of my company which was less then 18 years.. so when i went to make a gmail bizz account or any account with my real age 32 it says i'm still to young... it cached it in it's universal world wide control thought process wrong.. not allowing me that same equal work benifiet as the next guy on the web.. f ing disrimintory program..
ReplyDelete@ Anonmyous - thanks for your suggestion - use a different browser. Same case as Matteson - I used the age of the organization and even my immediate next attempt with changing the birthday to 13 years.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good technique - I just hope those who encounter the same issue with creating an account for their organization will be able to solve their problem and able to do so.