Known for their front loaders and other heavy machinery, Illinois-based John Deere prevents kids under age 18 from reading its press releases and product news.
Huh?
Buried in the “miscellaneous” section on their corporate website about subscribing to RSS feeds:
You certify you are legally permitted to use the RSS Services and access the RSS Content, and if you are an individual, you are over 18 years of age.
Why?
Browsing online for similar phrases, I noticed Quikbook.com includes it in their RSS usage terms but I don’t know who else.
I fail to grasp the significance. What’s so precious about John Deere equipment that one needs to be 18 to read the news?
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What the heck? Why does one need to be 18+ to read about front end loaders? (Also I heart you forever for writing about this Ari). Teens should have the same access to news that all of us do.
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@ariherzog You mean you never the the, um, “private section” of the John Deere site? [link to post]
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Hi Ari,
I think sometimes language and terms such as this are created out of corporate fear, given US laws centered around child privacy. In most cases, anyone over the age of 13 can use, interact and provide data to sites. Sometimes though, the fear is there and they just use the standard age of 18. I have experienced this with a few clients and employers over the years and it was always the same – try to avoid litigation at all costs, even if it was limiting to the business spreading information in some way, shape or form.
I like the section that states this: “Neither party will be liable for any failure to perform any obligation hereunder, or from any delay in the performance thereof, due to causes beyond its control, including industrial disputes of whatever nature, acts of God, public enemy, acts of government, failure of telecommunications, fire or other casualty.”
For an RSS Feed? Wow…
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Protecting the children via banning one RSS feed at a time…
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We must use the same law firm as John Deere?
It does seem a bit silly, though, even for legalese. I’m going to see if I can’t remove it from ours.
Power to the teens!
That’s hilarious, Brian! Glad to see you chime in. Maybe if you can change, the tractor folks can follow…