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.
Well first of all I went on neopets and signed up as 18 or older (im 13) and not once did I get a spam from neopets.com. Second of all its called spam filters. Third of all ur daughter should be able to tell u when she gets a spam and I think u can give her a little privacy. I know that ur just being a “good parent” but she needs to know how to deal with these things on her own. ur not always going to be there looking over her shoulder at everything she does. also ur daughter should have put ur email address in the box asking for an email address.
Of course not, dolt! You don’t get spam from NeoPets, you get it from other companies that NeoPets has given the email address to! Not sure what the “its” you’re (notice the correct spelling of “you’re”) referring to is, but I am already aware of spam filters and use them religiously. Thanks for the uninformative perspective provided by just another know-it-all teenager. Boy, if only I could disallow comments by age of the contributor. - RDL
Neopets NEVER do anything like that! I have been on neopets for over 3 years, and never have neopets given MY email address to other parties or whatever. Your daughter must have forgot to UNTICK the box when she signed up saying, “Send me offers on so-and-so”, or, “Please notify me about this” and so on. next time she signs up, or anybody, be there and make sure she unticks these things.
Another person who can’t read. I already told you guys in a comment above that I unchecked the options to participate in third-party offers during my test. Thank you to people like you making “contributions” without bothering to try to understand what you’re reading. - RDL
i am a 17 yrs old boy and am leaving neopet because i am grown up. i will not give my things to one person but i will give them to different people.if you want them send me your username and password.dont post it here or the hackers will take all your money.i just want to help you guys.send me if you trust me.i have collected all these things frm 7 yrs
Since the comment above was left by an individual in or near Mumbai, India, I was planning on leaving a cautionary note to those thinking about taking up his offer, also debating whether or not to delete it. Once I realized that his email is not shown (no one’s email address is displayed in comments here!), there’s nothing to worry about, so I approved the comment just for laughs.
I would recommend you pull your daughter off Neopets entirely. I played Neopets starting at age 11 the month after it opened, December 1999 (and yes, recieved unsolicited spam, and still do after not playing since December 2006). Originally it was a delightful little game, owned by delightful little people. Then it got popular and Adam and Donna sold it to Doug Dohring. Doug Dohring is an OT7 with the ‘Church’ of Scientology, a very high rank involving approximately $400,000 in fees and decades of work. He restructured the company to run on the “Org Board”, the Scientologist system, one supposedly invented “by a galactic government that lasted 80 trillion years”. He has said himself how strongly the church influences everything he does, including business. Viacom bought Neopets a while back, but they took a hands off stance and left him in charge. Former employees have written about how people were only permitted if they became a Scientologist. The website was restructured so that most advertisements are in the blind spot of the left eye, and there have been interviews where kids swore there were no ads and yet quoted them word for word without realizing it.
As for the “church” itself, it’s a cult. A cult. L Ron Hubbard, the founder, repeatedly said variations on “If you want to get rich, start a religion, that’s where the money is,” and that’s how it is run. You can’t look at them funny without suing you. And they don’t sue to win, because they CAN’T. They sue you until legal fees bankrupt you and make you back off. I protest the cult, and I have been PERSONALLY threatened by scientologists. For example, one of them told me he knew where I lived, and threatened to show up on my doorstep if he got any more “trouble” from me. They are responsible for the biggest infiltration of the government in US history (google Operation Snow White), and received their tax exempt status by blackmailing IRS agents. They had an OFFICIAL CHURCH OPERATION called Operation Freakout against journalist Paulette Cooper to stop her from publishing her book criticizing them. Official policy in it was to either drive her insane or have her framed for a felony. They broke into her house, stole her belongings, forged bomb threats on her typewriter. And this is without even getting into the DEATHS associated with them. Lisa McPherson was a scientologist who died in 1995. She was in a car accident, was…the only appropriate word is SEIZED, by fellow scientologists, NOT driven to a hospital minutes away, locked in the Ft Harrison Hotel (which is not a hotel, by the way. It’s a scientologist building), SAT ON by scientologists when she tried to escape….and she died of dehydration, covered in cockroach bites, minutes from a hospital. And there is an official Scientology policy — you can look yourself — called R2-45, created by Hubbard himself, that says “R2-45: AN ENORMOUSLY EFFECTIVE PROCESS FOR EXTERIORIZATION BUT ITS USE IS FROWNED UPON BY THIS SOCIETY AT THIS TIME” (caps lock his, not mine). Exteriorization is when the thetan, or soul, leaves the body. R2-45 is SHOOTING AND KILLING SOMEONE WITH A COLT .45 PISTOL. Hubbard also said “But there is, remember, R2-45. It’s a very valid technique. A lot of people have used it before now.” Their “navy”, the Sea Org, consists of staff paid PENNIES, whose women are coerced into having abortions (unapproved pregnancy = “unapproved expenditure”) and who work slave hours. They force members — including children — to sign (and I kid you not) billion year contracts. Their flagship/cruise ship, the Freewinds, is currently drydocked in the Caribbean because it was covered in cancer-causing asbestos, and anyone who wants to reach a higher rank in the cult had to take classes on this boat. They separate kids from their families, a typical cult behavior because people are easier to brainwash on their own. These kids work illegal hours doing hard labor, and have to ask permission to see their family once or twice a year.
And these are the guys running Neopets. I know I wouldn’t let MY children associate with them.
You can find out more from enturb.org, youfoundthecard.com, whyaretheydead.net, xenu.net, and basic google skills. My email is always available at anon612@gmail.com.
Whoops. “Former employees have written about how people were only permitted if they became a Scientologist.” That should be “promoted”. Just goes to show no matter how long your comment is, you still gotta typo-check.
I have been a Neopets user for over 6 years, and I will agree that e-mail spam is a definite issue with having a Neopets account. With regards to other responses to this topic, I do not feel that use of Neopets is going to turn any children into mini Tom Cruises. There isn’t any blatant Scientologist viewpoints on the site that I have seen. If such messaging exists on Neopets, it’s likely incorporated into a game or world which children enjoy without thinking about the larger implications and being converted to a new religion.
As for your problem, Richard, I do respect and applaud a parent who allows their children access to computers and the internet without constantly leering over their shoulders. However, since your daughter is only 12 and you clearly take an active interest in her internet activity, you may want to monitor her registering with websites a little more closely. I’m sure you have sat down and talked to her about how she needs to let you know any time she enters information online, but you may want to re-emphasize your point. E-mail spam, however adult the content may be, is relatively harmless. You certainly would not want your daughter stumbling across more troublesome internet material.
I apologize for posting in such rapid succession, however this article sparked my interest, so, I opted to do a little investigating.
I created a new account on Neopets. I was only asked to provide a username, e-mail address, sex, birthday, and general location. No compromising data (street address, phone number, etc) was asked for. I also closely read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The terms of use does explicitly state that users under the age of 18 should have parental permission (trust me, I’m well aware most parents don’t know where their teenagers are right now, let alone what websites they join, but it is stated). Also included in these policies, is the statement that Neopets will never sell personal information to third-party sites unless you have selected to opt-in to such third-party programs, or not selected to opt-out of them. This statement implies that there are multiple boxes you must select in order to avoid any third-party interaction. The kicker? No such boxes were put on the registration page. You are, by default, giving your e-mail away to any company Neopets associates with when creating an account. I proceeded to search for security settings to make my e-mail unavailable, but no such settings appear to exist. If they are available, you must have to do an extensive search to locate them.
All that being said, I feel that Neopets remains a safer environment for children and teens online. E-mail spam aside, there are numerous features in place to protect users. The Neopets staff does appear dedicated to helping users avoid being scammed, harassed, or solicited while using their site. Use a junk e-mail address for account creation and avoid clicking on/registering with third-party advertisers featured on the Neopets site, but don’t discourage your kids from playing. They could find far less wholesome ways of spending their time online.