MySpace.com's Age Verification Problem

Posted on September 14, 2006

Wired has an article about how MySpace.com is battling with the long existing problem of identifying a user's age. It is extra difficult for MySpace.com because minors do not always have a credit card or drivers license to use as identification.

However, because age is self-reported, as it is at similar sites, adults could simply sign up as minors.
There are tools to verify age, but they work best for porn, wine-sales and other sites meant for adults only.
A credit card, for instance, could demonstrate that a user is of age, notwithstanding a teen's ability to "borrow" a card from Dad's wallet.
More robust techniques like those from IDology and Sentinel Tech Holding's Sentry check addresses, birth dates and other information users provide against public databases, such as voting and property records.
But many social-networking sites cater to both adults and teens -- and teens can be difficult to verify.

The article talks about how some other networks are getting around the problem using other methods. Facebook uses school and company email accounts for validation. Imbee, a recently launched kids social network, requires a parent's credit card. And Zoey's Room verifies with a youth group or school. Wired also says MySpace.com has been trying to catch minors posing as adults on the post-registration end by scanning their entries for signs they are younger than they say they are.

MySpace, instead, has been trying to catch minors after the fact.
It has technology to scan for inconsistencies and teams of employees to investigate further. For example, a user who claims to be 18 might mention a sixth-grade class elsewhere in the profile, or feature a photo of a birthday cake with only 13 candles.

That technique will probably catch some of them.

MYSPACE