# Parental Consent **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 14, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parental-consent/137618 "2008-05-14T17:57:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paul_Collins)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parental-consent/137618/1 "2008-05-14T17:57:54Z")
We are building solutions for school age children (18 and under). It is very important to get consent from parents. Since receiving hand- signed consents is not feasible, has anyone used a different technique using credit card verification or some other method? Thx. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paul_Collins)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parental-consent/137618/2 "2008-05-14T23:20:36Z")
There’s a fun way to do this. Check out a bunch of p sites and find one built on Rails, then reach out to the developer. The sort of verification you’re looking for is pretty much the same as what they do (18+), it differs only in where its applied. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paul_Collins)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parental-consent/137618/3 "2008-05-14T23:22:58Z")
There’s a fun way to do this. Check out a bunch of porn sites and find one built on Rails, then reach out to the developer. The sort of verification you’re looking for is pretty much the same as what they do (18+), it differs only in where its applied. I misposted above. I left out the parts of the word porn because its the kind of word that will draw the attention of passing coworkers. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paul_Collins)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parental-consent/137618/4 "2008-05-14T23:32:57Z")
There’s a fun way to do this. Check out a bunch of porn sites and find one built on Rails, then reach out to the developer. The sort of verification you’re looking for is pretty much the same as what they do (18+), it differs only in where its applied. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paul_Collins)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parental-consent/137618/5 "2008-05-15T02:56:51Z")
> Check out a bunch of porn sites and find one built on Rails, then reach out to the developer. Validation by credit card is iron-clad - if you can convince a viewer to whip out their card. A certain underage relative of mine told [MySpace.com](http://MySpace.com) she’s 26 or something, and she now has full privileges. MySpace’s ass is relatively legally covered, so that should be all that matters. Let your users lie, and keep going! – Phlip ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Paul\_Collins](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paul_Collins)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parental-consent/137618/6 "2008-05-15T02:27:34Z")
Do you just want to verify the age of the user, or actually get parental consent? The latter would be tougher I’d think. You’d need to know that the person whose credit card was being used was actually the parent/guardian of the child user. And even then you don’t know that Junior didn’t just sneak mom’s CC out of her purse without her knowledge. Off top, how about requiring the user to give e-mail addresses both for themselves, and for a parent. You send an e-mail to the parent address explaining what’s going on, and asking them to come to your site, verify _their_ age and have them endorse a statement to the effect that they are the parent of \<\> and give their permission for child to use your site.