Legal Question in Technology Law in New York

Liability issues with minors registering on website

I am in the process of developing an on-line community for the alumni of the non-profit organization I work for. Our alumni range in age from 11-30.

I need to know the liability issues involved with having minors register on the site and what steps I can take to cover the organization.

I do not have a system set in place to ensure that only our alumni are registering. We currently have close to 20,000 a year so it is almost impossible. My concern is that a predator could register on the site and seek out some of our students.

Thank you for your help.


Asked on 7/13/05, 1:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
William Frenkel Frenkel Sukhman LLP

Re: Liability issues with minors registering on website

You should address two separate issues:

(i) compliance with Children�s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule) and the FTC Act insofar as your website will be directed to children under 13; and

(ii) terms of service (essentially a contract) for the use of your website to ensure that the users are pre-qualified, have limited access to certain areas of the website and undertake certain obligations, including possibly non-disclosure obligations with respect to the user list or other data on the site and many other aspects of receiving access to the website.

The second issue is also a question of the design of the website as much as it is a legal issue. There are functionalities that can be enabled or disabled based on the level of registration and other factors. You should also be able to monitor many activities of your registered members to try to detect improper activities.

If you need specific legal advice on implementing the above, contact my offices. Good luck.

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Answered on 7/13/05, 3:18 pm


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