Credit Card Required To View 'M' Rated Information 103
John Callaham writes "Gamecloud has a special feature article titled 'Going Through The Age Gate'. Why are some downloads of game trailers and demos are now requiring that a person declare their age before accessing them?" Not only are some sites requiring you declare your age, Activision is requiring a credit card to view "M" rated game information. From the article: "Asking for a credit card number, even if that the message says it will not be charged, brings up some very serious questions. Why is Activision asking for credit card numbers to access product pages that promote 'M' rated games when the ESRB and every other publisher only use the required 'age gate'?"
Porn sites do it to "keep minors out" (Score:2, Interesting)
So why should "violent content" producers be any different than "adult content" producers?
(not that I've ever used a credit card to verify my age)
It's pretty obvious (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm not thrilled about putting my credit card number in online when there's nothing to buy, but I don't think this is for them to charge it - imagine them treating the card like a doubleclick cookie and you see where they may be able to gather a little bit of data about their users. I'm not as paranoid about personal data as some, so it's not much of a concern to me, but if we had some other unique form of ID I'd be more comfortable with this.
Re:It's pretty obvious (Score:1, Interesting)
Firefox Bypasses It (Score:5, Interesting)