need help with COPPA in phpbb

[king_cobra]

How can i turn off the COPPA in phpbb? I dont need to have my members verified as 13 years or anything.

[fryman]

You shouldn't turn it off.

[king_cobra]

but why fryman? mine is a forum for childrens literature and my memebrs are largely under 13.

[fryman]

Oh, I thought it was the other way round...


Anyway, I don't think it is possible

[king_cobra]

then i have to hack it myself i suppose.

[fryman]

Yeah, there seems to be some way by editing some php files, but is won't be easy

[king_cobra]

It wont be a problem. I was just asking for any methods in the admin panel. thanks fryman.

[minstrel]

There is a MOD at phpbb.com to do this but you should be aware that it may be illegal to remove that, regardless of whether the site is oriented toward younger children, depending on (1) where the site is hosted or (2) where you as the site owner reside. It isn't a matter of just the site content -- it's a matter of protecting both minors and their parents from potential exploitation not only from the website itself but also from other members of the forum. What guatantee do you have that some pedophile won't sign up as a 13 year old girl named Jessica and talk some 12 year old into private messaging or something?

Frankly, I think it would be very inadvisable for you to remove Coppa - it's a form of at least some minimal protection or limitation of liability for you and if you are running a forum aimed at minors you need all the protection you can get.

If you insist on removing the COPPA agreement, this MOD (http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=227080) will do that. You may need to modify it because as it stands it removes the agreement section assuming all members are over 13 and then redirects any under 13 year olds to a separte page letting them know they can't have access. You may wish to reverse or otherwise tweak this.

[king_cobra]

I am not removing COPPA. I talked with an attorney. But Now the problem is, once i get the fax from their parents, how can I activate their membership?

[ServerUnion]

I would suggest looking through the help files and admin pages...

[minstrel]

Try this one:

## Hack Title: Admin Account Actions
## Hack Version: 1.2.1 (phpBB 2.0.4 or lower)
## Author: Acid
## Support: http://www.phpbbhacks.com/forums/
##
## Description: Displays all users which expect an account activation on an extra
## site inside the admin panel (admin activation and user activation).
## You can activate or delete them.
##
## Files To Edit: 1
## language/lang_english/lang_admin.php
##
## Included Files: 2
## admin/admin_account.php
## templates/xxx/admin/admin_account_body.tpl

[king_cobra]

That solved it. thanks for the help ministrel.

[minstrel]

Glad to help.