Discussion - Texas youth hellbent on using iPhones, the battle escalates

The problem with setting even a "reasonable" age limit like 13 years is that in order to enforce that limit, you have to somehow verify every user's age, which is a huge privacy violation if they have to do things like upload their ID or scan their face just to download an app

The thing is, you have to be 18 years old in the US to sign a contract. If you allow minors to download the app store, they could not legally consent to the terms of service. So then how does the App Store have any recourse?

Minors actually can enter into some contracts in the US, but I'm not a legal expert so I don't know how that would work. I think the 2014 court case C.M.D. v. Facebook said that kids were bound by Facebook's terms and conditions, but I really don't understand all the details of it.

Yeah, I should have been more nuanced. Under 18 can enter contracts but can also back out of them before age 18. And things like terms of service can be enforced on them for things like social media because the company can delete or restrict the account.

So technically at age 13 a minor can join an app store, do whatever they want, and then pull out before 18 and not be bound, or the provider can ban/suspend/etc.

I think it should be better clarified in law. It's silly you can drive at 16, smoke at 18, and drink at 21, but can't sign a contract that is enforceable until 18. We should pick one age and stick with it. haha

Also I thought Big should have won the splatfest. Team Stealth for the win! (even though we lost)

"District Judge Robert Pitman compared the act to requiring every bookstore to verify the age of every customer at the door before even allowing them to go inside and look at the books."

Yeah, that's because book stores don't exclusively sell age-restricted content.

Go to any tobacco smoke shop, you gotta be 18 to go in the store. Same with a bar, you will never find anyone under the age of 21 there because there is literally someone at the door checking every single ID. Restricting/verifying age at the door is very common and not inconvenient at all if you want to enforce the law...