Under 18? Using Google? You May Be A Criminal!

[DeathKnell]

It's no secret that people ignore the terms of service on most sites, and there are pretty big questions concerning how enforceable any such terms really are. However, Petrea Mitchell, alerts us to an odd note at the very end of some notes on a conference session where Chris Soghoian points out that Google's terms of service forbid use by those under 18. I did some looking and Soghoian actually wrote out the details about this a few months ago. Basically, Google's terms of service state:

You may not use the Services and may not accept the Terms if (a) you are not of legal age to form a binding contract with Google

But, as Soghoian notes, in all 50 states in the US, that legal age is 18 -- meaning that those under 18 may be breaking Google's terms of service. And, of course, as we learned in the Lori Drew case, violating the terms of service of a website (even if you haven't read them or done anything to agree with them!) can be grounds for making you criminally liable for "accessing a computer without authorization." That seems like a problem, doesn't it?

Now, to be fair, the chances of anyone bothering to care or enforce this is slim to none. But we saw what happened in the Lori Drew case, where prosecutors with nothing else to sue against Drew twisted the law to find her guilty of something. You could certainly see that happening in some other case as well. If prosecutors can't find anything else on a teenager who did "something" people don't like, why not charge him with "hacking" for violating Google's terms of service?

DeathKnell Reviewed by DeathKnell on 26th Jun 2009. Under 18? Using Google? You May Be A Criminal! It's no secret that people ignore the terms of service on most sites, and there are pretty big questions concerning how enforceable any such terms really are. However, Petrea Mitchell, alerts us to an odd note at the very end of some notes on a conference session where Chris Soghoian points out that Google's terms of service forbid use by those under 18. I did some looking and Soghoian actually wrote out the details about this a few months ago. Basically, Google's terms of service state: Rating: 5

[SplitIce]

Lol, just another way i break the law daily

[__Doc_]

Just like lying in your profile is illegal and you agree to a ToS whether you read it or not

[JointRolla420]

w000t im a criminal

[zenmaster]

thats truly ridiculous

[copxxx]

Indeed, it's ridiculous ... US is a laws paradise

[Chri5]

WOW...
Thats billions of lawbreaking kids O_o

[dragz]

damn, I guess a lot of kids gotta go to jail, Almost every country, that "legal age" is 18

[Golden Falcon]

hilarious

[kenshin]

LOL....put em all in jail