Facebook Faces Underage Gamer Lawsuit

[Andy Chalk]

Facebook Faces Underage Gamer Lawsuit

Facebook is being sued for allowing underage gamers to purchase Facebook credits.

The world's most popular social network is once again facing legal trouble, this time from a California woman who claims that the ability of underage gamers to purchase Facebook credits for use in its games violates her state's consumer protection laws. Facebook policy prohibits the purchase of credits by users under the age of 18 without parental consent but the plaintiff, Glynnis Bohannon, claims it's not doing enough to actually keep it from happening.

Bohannon filed the action [http://www.scribd.com/doc/90357135/Facebook-Credits-Removal] on behalf of herself, her minor son and "all others similarly situated," and is seeking to represent "all parents and legal guardians whose minor children allegedly made unauthorized purchases of Facebook credits from the minor's account." The suit alleges a belief that there are "thousands of members of the Class" and while it doesn't demand a specific dollar figure in damages or restitution, Bohannon's personal damages are pegged at "several hundred dollars." The suit also notes that in 2011 alone, Facebook users between the ages of 13 and 17 purchased more than $5 million worth of credits.

Like all such lawsuits, this one will no doubt be the subject of much debate on where parental responsibility ends and corporate responsibility begins. There's no question that some and perhaps even most of these games are designed to hook players and get them spending money, but why do so many 14-year-olds seem to have such an easy time accessing their parents' credit cards? I can only guess what would have happened if I'd done such a thing at that age, but I strongly suspect that "apocalyptic" would be a mild way of describing it.

The action is similar to one filed against Apple [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116834-Parents-Suing-Apple-Over-In-Game-Purchasing], which alleges that the company manipulates kids into spending money on in-app items like Smurberries. That suit was recently given the go-ahead by a U.S. court.

Source: Gamasutra [http://gamasutra.com/view/news/168967/New_Facebook_lawsuit_highlights_trouble_with_kids_and_virtual_currency.php]


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[BabySinclair]

Another case of "please, please, raise my kids for me! I'm to pitiful to raise my kids myself. That's [insert media outlet here]'s job."

Seriously, parents, what's your problem? I know kids are growing up faster in some respects nowadays but why do you have to keep handing them the credit card and not monitoring your kids?

 

[Sansha]

Oh dear, it seems Uncle Computer didn't raise their kids properly, now they gotta get off their asses and be parents, oh they don't like that.

Heaven forbid you take the time to teach your children the value of a dollar. Alternatively, if parenthood is the screaming nightmare abyss pitched to you by your own dumbass parents, don't hand them your credit card just to keep them quiet for a few precious hours.

 

[Steve Lovell]

oh dear............. wait thats not what i meant, how about ban your fanny til you can raise what ever pops out yourself?

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

I'm torn.

On the one hand, there is the concern about how this abdicates responsibility from the parents who should be supervising their children.

On the other hand, some of these Facebook games feel predatory in nature and do need some kind of control on them to prevent the kind of situations we've been hearing about on the news (example: not allowing accounts under the age of 18 to register credit cards, but allowing them to redeem cards bought at convenience stores).

 

[LadyDeadly]

i started laughing but then i realized it was true.
Some kids at the age of 13 have access to their parents credit cards.
shit, i didnt have a phone until i turned 16, a credit card came after, and im only 20!

How the hell are you suppose to teach a kid about the value of money if a credit card is within their grasp? They're spending their parents money on freaking facebook credits!! geezus.

I see no decrease in kids with entitlement issues in the future.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

My son took my credit card and spent large amounts of money on an Internet game! I must sue someone else for my stupidity!

I can't stand stuff like this. It drives me up the god damn wall.

 

[bobmus]

This is not why facebook is evil, this is why you are a bad parent. Go teach your children the value of money, and stop just giving it to them.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

I guess nobody here is intelligent enough to know what a preloaded credit card is. Just because they are buying something on a facebook game does not mean they have access to their parents credit card. I mean jesus fucking christ are you people really this stupid? Lets blame everything on the parents with absolutely no fucking evidence at all. You people are worse then fox news.

Err...how are they getting the money for the prepaid cards then? If its coming out of the kids pocket, it wouldn't be much of a problem other than the fact that the child is underrage. She is saying it's cost hundreds AND the child is too young. Clearly the money is coming from the parent and they're upset they aren't paying attention to their kids and want someone else to pay for it.

 

[Sansha]

I'm torn.

On the other hand, some of these Facebook games feel predatory in nature-.

That's what we call 'business strategy'. Of course they're predatory - they're competing with other products and services for your money. It's entirely on the parents to maintain control of what their children are spending their parents' money on. You can't just leave children - who don't understand the value of a dollar, especially somebody else's - unsupervised with the ability to spend a lot of it. You just can't.

If its the kids own money, I'm all for it. Nothing teaches the value of money like seeing what you earn sucked away by your own reckless spending.
But don't blame somebody else because you gave your kids your credit card and were horrified that they used it.

 

[Mister K]

Do not give your children access to your credit card.
Problem solved.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

I guess nobody here is intelligent enough to know what a preloaded credit card is. Just because they are buying something on a facebook game does not mean they have access to their parents credit card. I mean jesus fucking christ are you people really this stupid? Lets blame everything on the parents with absolutely no fucking evidence at all. You people are worse then fox news.

Err...how are they getting the money for the prepaid cards then? If its coming out of the kids pocket, it wouldn't be much of a problem other than the fact that the child is underrage. She is saying it's cost hundreds AND the child is too young. Clearly the money is coming from the parent and they're upset they aren't paying attention to their kids and want someone else to pay for it.

Except you have no evidence of that at all except for wild speculation. Plus its not strange for kids to have money. You can easily start working by the age of 14.

If the women is right in her allegations then the lawsuit is perfectly legitimate. If she is lying then it isnt. There is absolutely no point at all in this case where the remarks you made would ever be relevant even if they were true.

And you're implying this kid has a job and is paying for it with his own money yet you have no evidence...you come out of the gates screaming that we are all somehow stupid for assuming certain things yet you do the same. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to get all upset over it anyway. And how does the child spending her own money have no bearing in this case? She's clearly doing it to get money back as well.

 

[newwiseman]

Wow you mean people lie at the "You must be _______ old to do ______" button. I'm socked. /sarcasm

There is more of a case here than the case against apple but both are jokes.

 

[Covarr]

Except you have no evidence of that at all except for wild speculation. Plus its not strange for kids to have money. You can easily start working by the age of 14.

If the women is right in her allegations then the lawsuit is perfectly legitimate. If she is lying then it isnt. There is absolutely no point at all in this case where the remarks you made would ever be relevant even if they were true.

Even if the minor is using a prepaid card which they purchased with money they earned legitimately and on their own (which I strongly doubt is the case in this scenario, because most parents don't have a problem with their kids spending their own money), it's still the parent's responsibility to monitor the child.

Facebook policy prohibits the purchase of credits by users under the age of 18 without parental consent but the plaintiff, Glynnis Bohannon, claims it's not doing enough to actually keep it from happening.

I think the real question is, how much is "enough"? There's not really a whole lot they can do to prove adult consent, since it's quite easy to lie about your age. Heck, even if they required the minor to have a listed parent which they would use to confirm the transaction, it's far too easy to make a fake account for this to be any use at all.

Here's the solutions I was able to think of:

1. If the facebook user is a minor, or if the name on the card doesn't match the name on the facebook account, send a facebook employee to the user's residence, and speak to the legal guardian to confirm the transaction.

Pros:

• 
  [li]Low potential for error. A minor cannot pretend to be their parent in person; they would need to get another adult to cooperate, which could be solved by requiring ID and proof of relationship.[/li]
  [li]Has the additional effect of reducing other types of fraud, such as transactions with stolen cards.[/li]
  [li]Makes online purchases a serious inconvenience for minors, and will reduce their desire to spend money.[/li]

Cons:

• 
  [li]Unsustainably expensive. Facebook cannot afford to spend this much on extra staff and travel, nor would it be even remotely reasonable to expect them to.[/li]
  [li]Does not work if the user doesn't have an address.[/li]
  [li]Still fairly easily thwarted by making an account with false name and age.[/li]
  [li]Makes online purchases a serious inconvenience for everybody, and will reduce customer satisfaction and cause facebook to lose legitimate transactions as well.[/li]
  [li]Extremely slow.[/li]

2. Use the user's webcam to take a picture of them, and use software to analyze the image and identify the user's age.

Pros:

• 
  [li]Cannot be thwarted by a fake account or false information.[/li]
  [li]Only a minor inconvenience for those making legitimate transactions (calling a parent into the room).[/li]

Cons:

• 
  [li]Obvious, serious privacy implications.[/li]
  [li]Significant initial investment to implement.[/li]
  [li]Unreliable. Minors may be incorrectly identified as adults and vice versa (especially in late teens). Face recognition software has historically had serious issues with facial deformities, certain ethnicities, piercings, and tattoos.[/li]
  [li]Impossible to confirm relationship to minor.[/li]
  [li]Only medium difficulty to thwart (hold up a photo to your webcam).[/li]
  [li]Requires the user to have a webcam.[/li]

I'm well aware that both of these ideas are ridiculous extremes. The only reason I bring them up is because I honestly can't think of any reasonable steps facebook could take beyond what they're already doing that would actually stand a chance at working. Bohannon wants facebook to know with 100% certainty that minors have parental permission to make these purchases, and I can't fault her for wanting that; it'd be great if they could actually do that. The problem is that there really isn't much more they can do. I don't see any evidence that she's offered a solution. She wants facebook to do "more", but only has a very vague idea what that is, ignoring the fact that children can still manipulate and game the system as they already have.

You know what she hasn't considered that might actually work? Raising kids to be honest, keeping an eye on them, and generally taking responsibility.

What really saddens me is that for every stupid, pointless lawsuit like this that wastes the courts' time, a judge has that much less time to see legitimate cases. I know perfectly well that this is a tremendous extrapolation and leap of logic, but how many innocent people have died because a criminal's trial had to be delayed for this kind of idiocy? Extremely unlikely in any single case, I know, and entirely impossible to verify even if it were to happen, but if it's even happened ONCE over the course of history, then it's happened far too often, and these lawsuits are common enough that even with low individual odds I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's happened before.

P.S. Thanks

 

[UnderGlass]

Bohannon filed the action [http://www.scribd.com/doc/90357135/Facebook-Credits-Removal] on behalf of herself, her minor son and "all others similarly situated," and is seeking to represent "all parents and legal guardians whose minor children allegedly made unauthorized purchases of Facebook credits from the minor's account." The suit alleges a belief that there are "thousands of members of the Class" and while it doesn't demand a specific dollar figure in damages or restitution, Bohannon's personal damages are pegged at "several hundred dollars." The suit also notes that in 2011 alone, Facebook users between the ages of 13 and 17 purchased more than $5 million worth of credits.

I'm not sure if this is a misquote or if I'm just reading it wrong but it sounds like she's upset that minors are making purchases with their own accounts. If it's against the law in CA then fine, I guess, maybe her 'damages' were to get her son out of the hole. Still, young adults wasting their own money on crap is hardly earth-shattering stuff.

 

[Versuvius]

As a young un around that age i was perfectly capable of quickly borrowing a credit or debit card to get something i wanted, course it would cost either a few quid and then say i did ask and i must have been ignored, amoral i know. But it's also a well known fact kids are horrible little shits so i can only assume said kid knew full what what they were doing but didn't care. So. Here is my take. Ban the shitspawn from the computer, FB for transactions should have a password set up or a system to link accounts to parents accounts to validate payments, i believe GFWL did/does this and it's not a terribad system. Now the issue is some people may lie about their age on their account, but thats violating facebook TOS and then it's not their problem anyway, they can't nanny billions of people.

And that is what i think. This is opinion, i know this method has lots of holes (Like parents often too spineless to ban their squall from the intertubes)