Consider switching from freelists

[nephele]

Specifically, their terms explicitly prohibit users to join the mailing list if they are under 16 years of age.

​https://www.freelists.org/tos.html

[kallisti5]

Hm. So scope is Google Code-In students mostly?

"Google Code-in was a contest that introduced pre-university students (ages 13-17)"

It's a good point to be honest.

The 16 year old age restriction is generally due to laws around kids < 16 yo not using the internet without their parents permission. (and sites tracking the permission grant)

[pulkomandy]

Mostly but not only. The issue was noticed after someone suggested we should switch from IRC to Discord, and it was pointed (asides from many other things) that Discord has an age limit that would prevent some of our contributors or potential contributors to use it.

But it turns out, so does one of our existing communication platforms.

I have checked Freenode, which has no problem with this. Here's what their policies say:

COPPA DISCLOSURE - About Children’s Online Privacy

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was passed to give parents increased control over what information is collected from their children online and how such information is used. The law applies to websites and services directed to, and which knowingly collect information from, children under the age of 13. Our online services are not directed to children under the age of 13, nor is information knowingly collected from them. For additional information on COPPA protections, please see the FTC website at: ​https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0031-protecting-your-childs-privacy-online

Please note that freenode, while providing a service globally, is registered in the UK and complies with the age requirements as set out at: ​https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/applications/children/

Which I think would apply in our case, with the exception that we do collect and require email addresses (which are required for Freelists, and I think for most other services as well).

That being said, the limit for COPPA is at 13 year old, and I don't know why Freelists uses 16.

[jmairboeck]

Replying to pulkomandy:

That being said, the limit for COPPA is at 13 year old, and I don't know why Freelists uses 16.

Maybe this is because of the age limit specified by the GDPR: see ​https://gdpr-info.eu/art-8-gdpr/