COPPA (American child protection law)

[bulleidboy]

An Obituary printed in the London Times....Absolutely Brilliant!!

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- And maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death,
-by his parents, Truth and Trust,
-by his wife, Discretion,
-by his daughter, Responsibility,
-and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 5 stepbrothers;
- I Know My Rights
- I Want It Now
- Someone Else Is to Blame
- I'm A Victim
- Pay me for Doing Nothing
Not many attended his funeral because, so few realized he was gone.
If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

[Mr Bones]

Very funny, but sadly very true.

[cheshire lines]

Amen to that!

[Stese]

I've just had a flick through the issue...

To be very honest, I don't think it should (it might anyway), affect content creators who are making videos for Model Railways. As long as videos are not labelled as 'intended for 'kids' (under COPPA thats anyone under 13 year of age), and the content is clearly not aimed at those under 13, there won't be an issue.

I can see an issue with the definition as some look at 'model railways' as toys, and thus could be considered 'aimed' at kids. Its my opinion that as long as the intent is stated on the YouTube Channel, and in a disclaimer on the video that the content is NOT intended for kids, (for the reasons of powertool & Soldering Iron use, Electrics etc), the content creator is in the clear.... it's then down to YouTube to prevent that video being shown to those under 13.

in theory, dropping a few F bombs during the video (and warning before hand!) would easily resolve the content issue!

I found some reading here :- https://vidiq.com/blog/post/coppa-kids-content-youtube/ and https://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-righ ... 82883.html

I'll be shortly announcing my own channel, as I follow the build of my HO railway... in the garden (yes, i'm crazy)

[bulleidboy]

I don't post YouTube videos, and never will, so I don't see that it's worth getting "uptight" about - as some undoubtedly will! Graham Foulson took to drinking whisky and smoking on the last video I saw of his, so that he could say it wasn't fit to be watched by children.

[IanS]

I've never posted to YouTube and never expect to. The problem seems to be that they were slapped with a massive fine for not following the COPPA rules and have to be seen to do something to avoid further fines. Added to this they seem to be using only 2 categories out of the 3 that COPPA has.

The 'Kids only' one and the 'Adult only' one are the two they use. 'Family suitable' is missing and I'd guess most, if not all, modelling videos that I view would fit into this 'Family suitable' category as they are not 'Made for kids' or 'Targetted at kids' but may interest them.

The initial storm seems to have passed by, with most channels that I view being unchanged at present and only a few labelling themselves as 'Not suitable for children'.

I think a better label would be 'Not aimed at, or made for, children'.

Maybe we'll know more when the YouTube changes actually come in, in 2020!