Twitter Birth-Year Hoax Locks Users Out of Accounts:
Twitter has warned users to ignore a hoax suggesting an alternative colour scheme will appear in the app if they change their birth year to 2007.
Instead, users who fall for the scam will be locked out of their accounts because Twitter prohibits anyone under the age of 13 from using the site.
[...]Twitter has automatically prevented users under 13 from using the social network since May last year and its terms of use state that the social network is "not directed to children."
Within the EU, companies aren't allowed to create contracts of service with users under 13 without parental permission, according to the recently adopted General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Twitter said that anyone locked out of their account erroneously could follow instructions in an email they should have received from Twitter or fill out an online form.
SocialEngineering++
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday March 27 2019, @08:51PM
Isn't getting locked out of your account maybe a change of color scheme in some sense?
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Wednesday March 27 2019, @08:55PM (7 children)
Maybe they should lock out anyone below a certain IQ level.
That would drop a lot of Facebook users, at least.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 3, Touché) by bob_super on Wednesday March 27 2019, @08:59PM (4 children)
Isn't that partially achieved by locking out people who fall for a stupid internet hoax ?
"restore my account now !"
"Sir/Madam, it's probably better for civilization if we keep you offline"
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:09PM (3 children)
Is there an alternative Darwin Award for this? If not, we should create one!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:23PM (2 children)
The hunter2 award, maybe ?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:47PM (1 child)
The ******* award?
Hows that pronounced?
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:57PM
Hey ! How did you get my password ? Did you hack me ? I'm calling the internet police, and the consequences will never be the same !
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:22PM
Paradoxically, those are the ones a social media should be interested to keep: they do make better consumers than the ones with higher IQ.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @12:55AM
They did.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:25PM (3 children)
Don't block our 11 Year olds. And, don't block our 12 Year Olds. So many beautiful young lives, think of it. Block E.U., European Union. European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. You're trying to please our enemy, you're destroying youre Company. And dividing our Country!!!!
(Score: 3, Funny) by fustakrakich on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:25PM (1 child)
:-) C'mon man, tell us the truth. You fell for it, right?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @11:45PM
We all should be so lucky.
(Score: 2) by J_Darnley on Thursday March 28 2019, @11:08AM
I know this is bait but I would be glad if they banned we Europeans from it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:01PM (1 child)
Please wait a year and try again.
(Score: 4, Funny) by MostCynical on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:12PM
For some users: "please have a parent verify your account"
for others: "please dig up a parent.."
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @03:47AM (2 children)
If twitter uses DOBs for password resets, then this is even stupider than it seems.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @04:35AM (1 child)
Indeed, that's where I also thought this was going.
My answer to required secret questions like, What is your mothers maiden name, What is the name of your first pet, etc etc is something like kjgu6f&URF6iI7V/DF67565VU%ERV7¤¤#0.,/&RyrJYTDChjKHbgku6bvu5eCV(%EV&E098%##. And no, I never expect to input that so I don't save it. If I lose the primary credentials, I just lose access. Never happened so far.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @08:21AM
my bank asks for those answers whenever I use a new machine to access the website, and sometimes just as a periodic security thing.