Age Restrictions and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

Although I am still very enthusiastic about Ning, it is not something that can be used by students younger than 13. This is because in order to use it, students must have their own Ning accounts, and the folks who run Ning do not want to risk violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) which is intended to protect children under 13 from disclosing certain kinds of personal information without verifiable parental consent. Frankly, although I have always been very careful to teach my students about protecting their privacy and I was aware of COPPA, it hadn't occurred to me that it would create a problem in this situation because I have never used this sort of online account with my students. I suppose I could go back to the people who are in charge of Ning accounts and find out what they would need in the way of parental consent to allow my younger students to use Ning if I can't find a more appropriate alternative (which I think I can).