A Message About NeoPets.com
This is a cautionary note to parents whose children use NeoPets.com and other online gaming services. While NeoPets has an effective privacy policy towards children under the age of 13, once the system knows that the child has reached 13 or over, the child’s information is provided to third parties, resulting in a bombardment of inappropriate spam.
My daughter, at the age of 12, after she forgot her password of her first NeoPets accounts, used the wrong signup to create a new account and entered her age incorrectly. NeoPets then thought she was 14 years old. No parental consent was necessary to join, and their privacy policy only protects children 12 or under. Then they provided her email address to a myriad of third parties.
Before using the email address on NeoPets she had never received any spam. However, just in the last twelve hours, she has received 18 spam email messages — two for diet pills, two for satellite TV systems, two for online dating services, two offering gambling, one for Viagra, one for other medication, one offering her the opportunity to refinance her mortgage, two for multi-level marketing schemes, two selling miscellaneous kitchen products, one to earn her degree online, one for a psychic hotline, and one that was blank because their ISP had shut them down for spamming which made the images of whatever they were trying to sell not show up. All inappropriate for her age; all intended for adults. Fortunately, I intercept every email message sent to her before she reads it.
My suggestion if your child MUST sign up with NeoPets (and other similar services) is to use a temporary, throw-away email address and sign them up as age six. Today, I emailed them to request that she be removed from their lists that they provide to third parties. Hopefully, they will do the right thing.
ADDENDUM: Since so many neoteens are having difficulty comprehending the problem, I’ll spell the problem out slowly: What you people who have been using NeoPets for a long time do not understand is that NeoPets has stated that they will use whatever privacy policy is in place when you sign up. The privacy policy in place when you signed up is probably different than today’s. I opened up an account on NeoPets at the beginning of February 2003, telling it that I was 13 years old (just as a typical teen would) and using a never-before-used email address, one especially created for the test. So, now, daily, I receive spam sent to the “mapsoen” (”neospam” spelled backwards) user on one of the domains I own. Only NeoPets was sent this email address. And, yes, I opted out of participating with their third-party partners when I signed up. Try it yourself.
Ah, the I-know-everything ranting of a hormone-infested male teenager! I am amazed at the poor comprehension and reading skills exhibited by quick-to-arms ‘net neophytes. Genius child?! Hardly. - RDL
Sean, when I said ” someone using your internet” I was refering to someone in his household, like his wife or other children. If you must know, I forgot to put the word connection after internet. Oh my gosh excuse me for my big mistake. And if he’s so concerned by what he thinks neopets is doing, then maybe he shouldn’t let his daughter go to neopets, which its none of his business if she does or not. But sense he seems to be a control freak, he might as well take her privilages away. It’s her e-mail, and if she recieves spam, that’s her problem not his. He has no right whatsoever to go into his daughter’s e-mail. If she were to go into his account and read everything that was coming and going, I’m sure he would be quit angered. Your child has the right as an individual to do things on her own. If you monitor every little thing she does, she is going to grow up to be one of the dumbfounded worthless people who can’t fend for themselves because they are use to “daddy” running their life. And Richard, I never said anything about my cable connection, lets stick to subject, okay? As for the thing with the never before used e-mail address, there are still other ways you can get spam. Do you think hotmail or yahoo doesn’t sell your e-mail address? Are you full of yourself and think you are a genius, because it seems to me that the internet is NOT yours, nor do I need permission from you to use it, so don’t TELL me to get off. You can forget about me paying you a dollar everytime I access it. If you were so smart, you would know that cable internet is always connected, therefor I only need to access it once because from then on its already open. Don’t tell me to grow up, you’re the one trying to charge me a freakin dollar. Good for you that you don’t trust or respect me, I don’t expect you too jackass. If you trusted your children, you wouldn’t need to read all of their e-mail and see what websites they are going to. You must think they are going to visit a pørn site or something, otherwards you wouldn’t care. I don’t know any other parent who monitors their child’s e-mail. So for my ending comment, I would just like to tell you Richard that your comments in response to the other posts are immature, espically the one te geniuschild. You are a parent remember, so isn’t that suppose to mean you are I dunno lets say MATURE. You are probably just some ignorant 40 year old controlling báštárd with nothing better to do than diss on neopets. If you are such the computer wizard that you say you are, wouldn’t you be spending your time more wisely by investing it in your “numerous’ domains? I mean, you must be pretty busy!
*sigh* Sarcasm is so obviously above your head that you can’t understand that I was referring to your comment that you claimed the Internet WAS mine. Your original comment was “Someone who uses your internet is accessing websites that are getting your daughter’s e-mail address and giving it to other parties”. Assuming that you meant to add the word “connection”, as you later asserted, you’re still wrong. Now you attempt to slam me for allegedly saying that I’m a “computer wizard”?! Please point out where I mentioned that and, while you’re at it, please point out exactly what comment I made that can be supposedly defined as “immature”. The entire premise for your uninformed, nonsensical “argument” is bunk. Anything a child does on the Internet is a responsible parent’s business. As a parent, of course I have every right to read all incoming and outgoing email, and I would be irresponsible if I did not. I would love to hear your explanation as to how the spammers start sending emails to a never-before-used email address, one made up just for the test on Neopets — without Neopets having provided the address to those third parties. And, yes, Hotmail and Yahoo likely provide your email address to third parties, the precise reason I do not use email addresses at either Hotmail or Yahoo. Given your penchant for the removal of rules and restrictions, I’m sure you think I’m supposed to give the credit card applications that arrive via snail mail to her, too, right? Should my three-year-old son be perusing Victoria’s Secret catalogs? We don’t subscribe to HBO or premium channels, but if we did, are you claiming in your infinite wisdom that Sex in the City is appropriate for children? Thankfully, it’s up to parents to make the rules, and not the children! What’s more mature? Knowledgeably and accurately informing the general populace of documented facts, or ranting at someone who would dare say something negative about a website that inadequately protects children? Notice that the name-calling is coming from your side of the “argument”, and that the proven facts are coming from mine. Talk to me in twenty years when you have a teenager of your own. - RDL
Well, I guess you told me, Tara. I don’t even know how to begin to reply to points made so clearly and lucidly. OK, now that’s sarcasm. If you did recognize it as such then I can assume you recognized Richard’s comments about charging you a dollar as similarly not serious. Although your comments seem to suggest otherwise. Back onto the topic of parents monitoring their children’s activities for a moment, I absolutely believe that they should. Now please note not in all things. I think children of any age should have their own space. I think they should have a certain amount of privacy. But within well-defined and strongly enforced boundaries. My kids are still quite young and it will be several years before they start using the web. Once they do, however, I will lay down ground rules (as I have in other aspects of their lives). This is not to interfere with their privacy. It is because they are kids and it is my job as a parent to watch out for them, to use my vastly greater experience and judgment to keep them safe. And part of those ground rules will be setting certain parts of the web off limits and verifying that they don’t wander into them when I’m not looking.
I have never once received any spam of any kind on my e-mail account, and there are several neopets accounts from this household on that account.
Which still doesn’t change the fact that the test account DID in fact receive spam that resulted from NeoPets distributing the address to a third party. I actually originally ran the test hoping that NeoPets would not distribute the email address, and was disappointed when I discovered that they did. If the email address of only one person gets sent out to third parties (even if it’s a test scenario) I feel that’s one time too many. - RDL
Sean, okay I’m just going to let the sarcasm thing slip by without me commenting and tell you that I fully agree with what you are saying. There should be ground rules laid down and certain websites should be off limits. I’m not implying that people’s children should be allowed to visit whatever site they want, but when they are 12 yrs old, they should be allowed to visit websites on their own with out their father monitoring them. And I do think that a child of that age should be allowed to have their own private e-mail; one which their father doesn’t read. If my parents read all of my personal e-mail, I would be extremely mad at them. Also, if anyone I associate with that is 12 or older had parents who opened all of their e-mail, they wouldn’t stand for it either. Luckily I don’t know anyone who has parents that paranoid. I know someone who is 15, and her parents wont let her go to the beach or talk to boys on the phone, but they still give her the privacy of having her own e-mail. If the parent is concerned about their child going to websites unsuitable for their age, then they should reset their computer settings so they have to type in a user password to access websites with high violence or nudity content. That way the child wont be able to see the page unless they know the password. Richard, Richard, Richard. Why do I even bother to try to prove you wrong? You’re just too smart for me! And no I am not still wrong, everyone has their own internet connection in their house. You know, like a cable connection or a phone connection, or I should say dial up and broad band so you don’t criticize me on that too. If it’s in their house, and they pay for it, guess what, it’s theirs. I’m not saying they own the internet, but I’m sure you will find some way to try and prove me wrong once AGAIN byt twisting one little thing I said. Now don’t go mixing my words all around. I never said that you stated you are a computer wizard. It was just implied. Espically when sean said this in one of his posts…”Second, Richard is a highly knowledgable computer professional.” To me that is stating that you must be pretty intelligent when it comes to the internet and computers, well so you say. Okay, I have an explanation as to how spammers can get the address of a never before used e-mail address, sense you would love to hear my thoughts. Sit back and relax, and be prepared to be reading for quit some time because I’m on a roll. Lets say you accessed the account already by signing in and going into your inbox, if the cookies on your computer are enabled, your information is saved on to your computer. After that you go and look at a few websites by that time some kind of marketing thing I don’t what they are, so I suppose I should explain them so you don’t tell me I’m completely clueless as to what I’m talking about. There’s these things that are used for marketing purposes that view the websites you have visited and can access your cookies. Once they can view those files, they can figure out your e-mail address that you just used minutes before. Since you are so intelligent I sure you know what I’m trying to explain. And I know its true because one of the marketing things got downloaded on to my computer somehow, so I had to download another program to get rid of it. Well, there is my explanation. I suppose you are going to go and analyz everything I said so you can criticize me and say I’m completely wrong. Which that’s fine, maybe I am wrong, but I’m not willing to admit it to you even if I am. You’re what, like 40 and I’m 15, so you probably just are asuming that I’m naive and have no clue about anything. Which is one of the biggest problems. Those of you who are parents automatically think you have so much knowledge and power and have been informed about things more so than your kids. So you think you know what is best, which you don’t always. But I wont venture too far off subject here. Anyways, I never stated that you should banish all rules and restrictions, I was just talking about neopets. If I gave that impression or said something that made you think that, it wasn’t intended. Give me a break, I’m on cold medication so the things I say get a little confusing and misunderstood. You guys take everything I’m saying so seriously.I don’t know everything, so shoot me! Why would it matter if your daughter recieves the credit card applications? If you have raised her right, she would know shes not old enough to use a credit card yet. Besides that, you have to be 18 to apply for one. I get plenty of offers for credit cards, but its not like I can send any of them back saying I want my credit card without my parent’s consent. Why would your 3 old son be getting victoria’s secret catalogs? It wouldn’t do any harm anyways if he was looking, hes only three. His brain hasn’t developed enough to think anything of the pictures in the catalog, unless hes a genius like you! But I’m not suggesting you hand your son a catalog and tell him to go enjoy himself. Wow this is really amazing. I say one thing about your childrens privacy and you go off saying that I think sex in the city is suitable for children. Which I don’t think it is. You’re just throwing things at me left and right here Richard. And by the way I can gaurantee you in 20 years I won’t have a teenager of my own, becuase I do not like kids, and I wouldn’t want to have the responsibility of trying to form some child into a descent person when I could very easily make mistakes and have them turn out to be some juvenile delinquent. Then we would have more moronic people roaming the earth, just what we need…..And yes I agree that thankfully the parents make the rules and not the children. But in my case, I have always made my own rules. I set my curfew, when I go to bed, and so on. I always have because I’m reasonable and knowledgeable enough to know whats right and wrong and whats fair and unfair. I believe that facts are comin from my side of the argument as well, you shouldn’t be so full of yourself. WEll I think I have typed enough to make my points clear. I could write a whole book about how wrong I think you are. Oh and by the way, how did you know I have adelphia cable? What did you do take my IP address and see what internet service I have so you can try to prove how smart you are again???
okay i have one more thing to add. i re read what I wrote before and I guess I did state that you said you were a computer wizard, but I didn’t mean that you actually said it, I meant that was what you were insinuating.
Oh, my God! That is a HUGE comment! Where on Earth do I begin?! I’ll just do quick little blurbs in response: (1) contrary to popular opinion here, she is allowed a reasonable amount of freedom on the Internet, but she knows, understands, and agrees with the house policy that all communication CAN be monitored and sometimes is — kind of an in-house privacy policy that all understand. With a household of more than ten computers and four networks, it must be treated like the enterprise system that it is. (2) You are referring to spyware when you mention “some kind of marketing thing”. None here — thanks to the security of the enterprise. Spyware is only added when someone installs an application on a computer, also not allowed by anyone but an administrator — yours truly. Without spyware, websites cannot read cookies left by other websites. No, spyware is not the problem with NeoPets. (3) It’s not that she receives credit card applications; it’s a messed-up society that sends them to a teen in the first place. (4) Your mention of “throwing things at me left and right” equals rhetoric, debate, and organized argument!
(5) You complained that I’m taking “everything [you're] saying so seriously.” Well, yeah! I raised a serious concern about NeoPets privacy that several visitors have turned into a personal vendetta against me and my decisions in raising my children. Very off topic! So, I choose to defend my actions and policies by poking massive holes in others’ arguments, as they (and you) are clearly but unsuccessfully attempting to do as well. This “publication” (my website) is being considered by the Library of Congress as a legitimate media publication and, as such, I take it very seriously. (5) Not turning children into delinquents is one of the reverse goals that parents have and is obtained through a careful balance of rules and freedom, a difficult balance indeed. You’re 15 and thus deserve the potential of increased freedoms, but not at the expense of shirked responsibilities. Parents must maintain a great deal of control, whether it be controlling how much their children are reined in or how much slack they are allowed.
I’ll admit that I am a computer wizard, but that admission only comes under duress! But whether or not I am a computer wizard and all the comments about what you perceive to be paranoid parental supervision are all beside the point and pointedly off topic. This is about NeoPets and their inappropriate distribution of the email address to third parties. Fact #1: On February 1, 2003, I created a brand-new email address (with the name of “mapsoen” on this, the “lecour” domain) Fact #2: On February 1, 2003, I created a brand-new account on NeoPets that used the never-before-used email address, specifying that the user was 13 years old and that I did not want to participate in third party offers. Fact #3: I left the mapsoen account alone, not creating a pet, sending messages, or playing games. Look up user “mapsoen” on NeoPets to see the account. Fact #4: Within 24 hours I received two spam emails to the mapsoen address from companies other than NeoPets. Not much now, but because it’s now known as a valid email address in the spamming world, it’s too late to save it now and the email address will soon have to be shut off. Was it a fluke, an oversight? Maybe. But it happened, and there is no disputing those facts. - RDL
“Well I think I have typed enough to make my points clear”. Quite the contrary, actually. If you go back and re-read your blob of text (suggestion: discover paragraphs) you’ll see you contradict yourself a few times. But enough. You are, as suspected, a teenager and acting as a teenager does. Rambling, utterly convinced of the rightness of your views but unable to express them consistently, clearly or convincingly. Don’t worry, you will most likely grow out of it. And, should you look back at your postings ten years from now I can almost guarantee you’ll be amused, and perhaps slightly embarrassed, about what you’ve written. I know I cringe when I look back at some of my comments from a quarter century ago. (Hëll, I cringe that it was a quarter century ago that I was 15!)