this is stupid
November 6th, 2006 by don
Budweiser is launching a new website, Bud.tv, and is hiring an outside firm to verify the age of visitors to the site. Most breweries currently use an honor-system method to assure that visitors are age 21 or older.
This is stupid on two fronts: First, instead of just entering a birthdate, visitors will have to enter some additional information like their name and address. That information will be checked against public records to verify the person is of drinking age. How many kids out there who would want to visit the site are not going to be able to get around this? How dense would a kid have to be not to figure out they could just put in the information based on a parent, uncle, neighbor, friend, or anyone whose information they looked up on one of the many sites where public records are available?
Second, why the hell does someone have to be 21 years old to visit a brewery’s website anyway? What, are kids drinking beer through their DSL connection? It’s a website for god’s sake. I’m sure that supporters of this idiocy would say that exposure to the material on the site could contribute to underage drinking. Even if that’s true (which is highly doubtful), what about all the TV commercials, magazine ads, billboards, and t-shirts that display drinking-related messages? Will there be age verification required to watch next year’s Bud Bowl? It’s a good thing Spuds McKenzie isn’t around to see this.
Your TV doesn’t verify your age?