Tell HN: I am 12 and my GitHub account is flagged for no reason
I am 12 years old. My GitHub account is flagged for no reason. I am using the GitHub Student Pack. The problem is that I use GitHub OAuth everywere, I can't access applications like Replit and Digital Ocean that I registered using GitHub OAuth. Maybe it's because I'd never use Windows, I use GNU/Linux instead. I used Proton Mail to register GitHub. However, like RMS said, Microsoft is bad. I won't use GitHub anymore. But it is difficult to migrate. But GitLab is related to Google. I don't like BitBucket. And I can't use Netlify and Vercel with Codeberg which is what I love.
65 comments
The GitHub terms:
> You must be age 13 or older. While we are thrilled to see brilliant young coders get excited by learning to program, we must comply with United States law. GitHub does not target our Service to children under 13, and we do not permit any Users under 13 on our Service. If we learn of any User under the age of 13, we will terminate that User’s Account immediately. If you are a resident of a country outside the United States, your country’s minimum age may be older; in such a case, you are responsible for complying with your country’s laws.
This is far more likely to be the reason than using Linux over Windows, lol.
> You must be age 13 or older. While we are thrilled to see brilliant young coders get excited by learning to program, we must comply with United States law. GitHub does not target our Service to children under 13, and we do not permit any Users under 13 on our Service. If we learn of any User under the age of 13, we will terminate that User’s Account immediately. If you are a resident of a country outside the United States, your country’s minimum age may be older; in such a case, you are responsible for complying with your country’s laws.
This is far more likely to be the reason than using Linux over Windows, lol.
I am using GNU/Linux on a bare machine. I started using GNU/Linux when I was 9.
Sure, but in the US children under 13 are more often than not banned from using internet services due to an ill-conceived law called COPPA.
He didn't mean you were running Linux "on" or "under" Windows. What he meant was "this is not because you are running Linux instead of Windows".
If you’re calling it GNU/Linux, I believe you.
That is annoying that we have such a law. I’d recommend putting 1901-01-01 as your birthday. Companies don’t need to know your real birthday…I never give that out, it is just lawyer-proofing.
1970-01-01 :)
I always pick this date. :)
1972-01-01 is better. That’s the starting point for Unix time based on UTC and thus the first properly coordinated date you can store on a Unix timestamp.
Good for you for being honest about your age -- I was never so virtuous.
As others have pointed out, this is due to COPPA. Use a foreign service, host your own, or get creative. Personally I'd say that hosting your own is probably your best, if not your cheapest option, as it'll teach you plenty about running a server, and ultimately, could be done on a pretty minimal spare machine (raspberry pi), if not right on your main system. You can get a free hostname redirect from a service like No-IP to access it with a dynamic IP if you're trying to access it from outside of your home network.
As much as COPPA does have some negative side effects, it's not getting repealed any time soon -- companies are still collecting WAY too much information about children, including the under 13 crowd, mostly under the same argument Pornhub tried using ("the uploader SAID the content was legal"), and then happily reaping the financial benefits of having collected it. Perhaps having a tier of under 13 rules allowing reduced use could work, but the legal system is picking its battles here, and making sure kids have access to online services just isn't a priority.
As others have pointed out, this is due to COPPA. Use a foreign service, host your own, or get creative. Personally I'd say that hosting your own is probably your best, if not your cheapest option, as it'll teach you plenty about running a server, and ultimately, could be done on a pretty minimal spare machine (raspberry pi), if not right on your main system. You can get a free hostname redirect from a service like No-IP to access it with a dynamic IP if you're trying to access it from outside of your home network.
As much as COPPA does have some negative side effects, it's not getting repealed any time soon -- companies are still collecting WAY too much information about children, including the under 13 crowd, mostly under the same argument Pornhub tried using ("the uploader SAID the content was legal"), and then happily reaping the financial benefits of having collected it. Perhaps having a tier of under 13 rules allowing reduced use could work, but the legal system is picking its battles here, and making sure kids have access to online services just isn't a priority.
Hi Xiyue Zhang!
A few things:
- have you tried emailing [email protected]? They can help tell you what’s wrong or fix it for you.
- it probably has nothing to do with Linux vs windows.
- “Microsoft is bad” is a mindset that restricts many opportunities. Consider avoiding “black and white” ideas about things.
Good luck!
A few things:
- have you tried emailing [email protected]? They can help tell you what’s wrong or fix it for you.
- it probably has nothing to do with Linux vs windows.
- “Microsoft is bad” is a mindset that restricts many opportunities. Consider avoiding “black and white” ideas about things.
Good luck!
> “Microsoft is bad” is a mindset that restricts many opportunities. Consider avoiding “black and white” ideas about things.
I agree. Microsoft is "50 shades of Black".
I agree. Microsoft is "50 shades of Black".
They will not help him, nor fix it, there is nothing to fix. He broke the Terms of Service and GitHub certainly wont reinstate him and risk a fine of up to $43,280
Could we not attach their name to this so that it comes up when future employers search for it? It just seems unnecessary.
[deleted]
If OP wants their name redacted they can contact as at [email protected]. We do that for people all the time.
If I search for a job applicant's name and see them at 12 years of age trying to use github then that's totally a plus. What sort of idiot would think it a minus?
Feel free to replace this metanym with something you find disagreeable.
Ok, I guess it might ruin their chances to go to rock college where they learn to throw rocks and nerds while whooping and hollering. Perhaps a Fourth Reich will rise up that is Luddite and those capable of engineering software will be rounded up and placed into... oh wait that did kinda happen in Cambodia under Pol Pot.
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
It’s in their bio? I’m just trying to be friendly to a young individual who is interacting in an often unfriendly context.
Waterluvian: I also think maxbond raised a valid point; it could be kind of you, if you could remove the name of the child, to not permanently attach its real name to the posts.
He/she can edit the bio later, but he/she can't edit your post.
I'm pretty sure this kid is going to be very successful, especially when you see how he is acting today and curious about learning.
He/she can edit the bio later, but he/she can't edit your post.
I'm pretty sure this kid is going to be very successful, especially when you see how he is acting today and curious about learning.
Thank you, this is what I meant, I wasn't expressing myself as well as I could have. I don't mean to say GP was being unkind, I understand their intention, but it's not fair to be loose with the personal information of minors, and their doing so shouldn't be interpreted as consent.
I hear what you’re saying. But minors are people and if they’re allowed on here at all, they should be treated with respect and equality. I will gladly change the message if they ask me to or if a moderator determines that is the correct course of action.
As someone who mentors young people in STEM, something I’ve found to be very important is to respect their agency. If this is a “this person is not competent enough to make the right call in not sharing their name” then perhaps a moderator should be involved and they shouldn’t be on here. But if they’re allowed to be on here and introduce themselves with their name, we should respect that.
I appreciate that you have good intentions. I hope you see the same in mine. If you feel very strongly about this, please don’t hesitate to report the thread. Dang is pretty wise.
As someone who mentors young people in STEM, something I’ve found to be very important is to respect their agency. If this is a “this person is not competent enough to make the right call in not sharing their name” then perhaps a moderator should be involved and they shouldn’t be on here. But if they’re allowed to be on here and introduce themselves with their name, we should respect that.
I appreciate that you have good intentions. I hope you see the same in mine. If you feel very strongly about this, please don’t hesitate to report the thread. Dang is pretty wise.
You realize if we did that, dang would have to ban this person? There's no guideline about age afaik, but HN is in the United States & is bound by COPPA.
I think that would be a needlessly bad outcome.
I think that would be a needlessly bad outcome.
[deleted]
I get that, but I don't think it's fair to interpret that as license to use their name, given that it also makes it clear they're a minor.
genconfused(1)
I currently have $400 Digital Ocean credit, and my VPS trial costs $84 a month, I wish GitHub can fix this problem in 4.7619047619 months. At that time I am already 13 years old. I'd never give GitHub my age.
Digital Ocean has a process for this
https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/i-lost-access-to-the-g...
It requires a photo id government issued. You would be able to use a passport.
It requires a photo id government issued. You would be able to use a passport.
He's 12 lol
Yes and most twelve year olds don't have photo id but since he has moved from China to the US he might have a passport.
I wouldn't let digital ocean know you are 12, they will shut the account like Github did.
Yes and then his parents won't be billed on their credit card which is what he wants.
If I read GGP's comment correctly, he will be 13 by the time/before the credit on digital ocean runs out.
"You are marked as spam, and therefore cannot authorize a third party application.", they said. I am quite furious. I can't do anything.
[deleted]
Even a 3-year old kid can use Gitee, China's GitHub. Can't I just end my Digital Ocean VPS free trial and just delete my account? My birthday is coming soon. I lost my control to Vercel, which hosts my website https://euyix.me/
This experience reveals that you can lose control of your online accounts for any reason.
If you don’t want this to happen again, you need more control of your platform.
“The cloud is just someone else’s computer.”
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-s...
> On the Internet, proprietary software isn't the only way to lose your computing freedom. Service as a Software Substitute, or SaaSS, is another way to give someone else power over your computing.
If you don’t want this to happen again, you need more control of your platform.
“The cloud is just someone else’s computer.”
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-s...
> On the Internet, proprietary software isn't the only way to lose your computing freedom. Service as a Software Substitute, or SaaSS, is another way to give someone else power over your computing.
I don’t know of anything connecting Google to GitLab.
Perhaps some of the funding by Google:
https://www.kyivpost.com/technology/google-fund-invests-20-m...
My mom and dad allow and support me to code. I lost my access to digital ocean. And I have a free VPS trial now. If I can't use GitHub OAuth, it will eat my mom's credit card in 2 months.
That makes me think of an experience I just had with Google for a new account that was automatically disabled. I contacted Google as suggested and my account was unblocked in one day... Maybe Google is coming to its senses?
> You recently contacted Google support. As requested, we’ve restored your Google Account [email protected], along with your emails, contacts, photos, and other data stored with Google.
> You recently contacted Google support. As requested, we’ve restored your Google Account [email protected], along with your emails, contacts, photos, and other data stored with Google.
Because of that, my profile is hidden from the public. I am in the US now but I am from China, is this a reason?
> A User must be at least 13 years of age.
https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-t...
Presumably because of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Online_Privacy_Pr...
Sorry to hear you've lost access to your accounts. That really sucks.
https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-t...
Presumably because of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Online_Privacy_Pr...
Sorry to hear you've lost access to your accounts. That really sucks.
They say in another comment that they were flagged as spam, so the age thing doesn't seem to be the primary reason...
Looking at archive.org the user says they are a middleschooler on their github profile.
There are lots of sites where moderators don’t make a point to look for underage users, but by policy have to cut them off when they come across them. I’ve seen scenarios before wear a spurious flag for some thing irrelevant ends up having this outcome.
So all I have to do to get Microsoft to delete my data is open a support request and say Im 10? Nice to know, thanks for sharing this tip op.
If I can't end my Digital Ocean VPS trial, it will cost $84 a month, I really don't want this to happen, my mom will "kill" me.
Tell your mum what happened and have her call her bank and report her credit card as lost. A new number will be issued so Digital Ocean won't be able to bill her card any more.
Also contact Digital Ocean via email and explain what happened and that you need to close the account. Then you have a legitimate record of what happened so if they try to send you an invoice, you have evidence that they shouldn't be doing this per your earlier request.
Good luck and I'm sorry to hear this happened to you.
Also contact Digital Ocean via email and explain what happened and that you need to close the account. Then you have a legitimate record of what happened so if they try to send you an invoice, you have evidence that they shouldn't be doing this per your earlier request.
Good luck and I'm sorry to hear this happened to you.
Contact DigitalOcean support to have them close your account. Maybe someone on DigitalOcean is listening in here, but it’s better to try all channels.
I am a citizen of China, I love my nation, and I think Children's Online Privacy Protection Act don't work on me.
COPPA applies to businesses in the US, not their customers.
Of course it does. Doesn't matter where you are or what citizenship you hold. Github has to follow US laws.
Is it illegal you use fake name and fake age on the internet? asking for a friend :)
Technically? If they wanted to be really a pain they could probably hit you with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). That said, that act is like using a nuke to kill a spider, so it'd never actually happen.
> The problem is that I use GitHub OAuth everywere
Sorry you are learning the lesson about keeping all one's eggs in one basket the hard way. Don't single-source your identity authentication management and make backups for things important to you. If at all possible use adversarial services and treat accounts at services as ephemeral so that if one bans you, the other probably won't.
There should probably be a 12 Factor Lifestyle manifesto. https://12factor.net/
Sorry you are learning the lesson about keeping all one's eggs in one basket the hard way. Don't single-source your identity authentication management and make backups for things important to you. If at all possible use adversarial services and treat accounts at services as ephemeral so that if one bans you, the other probably won't.
There should probably be a 12 Factor Lifestyle manifesto. https://12factor.net/
adolph that's not going to help him/her.
In more generalized terms, OP what you need to do is called risk management analysis.
At your age, your parents typically do this for you but its never too early to start learning it. It applies to many aspects in life, in chess its called adversarial thinking, or prophylaxis.
To do this, basically, you start by having a goal, something you want to do or have done. Then you start by asking yourself what are the most likely risks or outcomes (what can happen), then you extend that to the uncommon but do happen risks, potentially the risks and the rare risks if the failure is particularly critical as well (i.e. safety-critical, or impacts your well-being).
Write them down, then determine what your requirements, dependencies, and what your points of failure are, how many points of failure do you have, is there a single point of failure where everything depends on a single thing, can that break?
Once you have it on paper, then reorganize to reduce, eliminate, mitigate, or remove those points of failure. Sometimes that means creating redundancy (more than two of a thing to combat a single point of failure) because that provides flexibility. Brittle systems break, flexible systems can cope or gracefully degrade if a leg of the system diagram is broken. This is called system resiliency in IT.
Unexpected things will happen, and if you've gamed out what those outcomes are ahead of time, and worked backwards, and have a plan for dealing with them (mitigating), or have removed the issue by investing more or doing something differently, you are well on your way because you prepared ahead of time, and if something does happen you don't have to deal with the emotional shock alongside trying to figure out what you are going to do because you've written your plan out (step-by-step) and have contingencies in place. You just need to pull out the instructions you made, and follow them, and hopefully you've written the instructions, and validated them ahead of time.
They should be written in a way that you can mindlessly follow them because you won't be nearly productive while you are in it, strong emotions have a way of clouding our thinking and sapping our productive efforts.
When you first start doing this, it takes practice, which is why I said write it out, it can be as simple as a series of circle nodes as long as you account for those previous items how you write it out doesn't matter.
This is used in many different places, and its particularly critical in IT (i.e. backups, business continuity, disaster recovery). Contingency planning (another name for a part of this), means you always have at least one fallback plan. If its not written/documented, its not a plan.
In more generalized terms, OP what you need to do is called risk management analysis.
At your age, your parents typically do this for you but its never too early to start learning it. It applies to many aspects in life, in chess its called adversarial thinking, or prophylaxis.
To do this, basically, you start by having a goal, something you want to do or have done. Then you start by asking yourself what are the most likely risks or outcomes (what can happen), then you extend that to the uncommon but do happen risks, potentially the risks and the rare risks if the failure is particularly critical as well (i.e. safety-critical, or impacts your well-being).
Write them down, then determine what your requirements, dependencies, and what your points of failure are, how many points of failure do you have, is there a single point of failure where everything depends on a single thing, can that break?
Once you have it on paper, then reorganize to reduce, eliminate, mitigate, or remove those points of failure. Sometimes that means creating redundancy (more than two of a thing to combat a single point of failure) because that provides flexibility. Brittle systems break, flexible systems can cope or gracefully degrade if a leg of the system diagram is broken. This is called system resiliency in IT.
Unexpected things will happen, and if you've gamed out what those outcomes are ahead of time, and worked backwards, and have a plan for dealing with them (mitigating), or have removed the issue by investing more or doing something differently, you are well on your way because you prepared ahead of time, and if something does happen you don't have to deal with the emotional shock alongside trying to figure out what you are going to do because you've written your plan out (step-by-step) and have contingencies in place. You just need to pull out the instructions you made, and follow them, and hopefully you've written the instructions, and validated them ahead of time.
They should be written in a way that you can mindlessly follow them because you won't be nearly productive while you are in it, strong emotions have a way of clouding our thinking and sapping our productive efforts.
When you first start doing this, it takes practice, which is why I said write it out, it can be as simple as a series of circle nodes as long as you account for those previous items how you write it out doesn't matter.
This is used in many different places, and its particularly critical in IT (i.e. backups, business continuity, disaster recovery). Contingency planning (another name for a part of this), means you always have at least one fallback plan. If its not written/documented, its not a plan.