How come when you visit brewers web sites, they “id” you on their home page by having you type in your birthdate?
Is it actually illegal for underagers to go into those web sites?
What damage can looking at Miller Brewings site have on me?
Will it make me drunk? (I hope…I hope!
)
Bueller?..?
Bueller?
IANAL
You could, of course, lie about your birthdate when you try to visit that site. I’m not suggesting you do anything illegal, mind you. I’m just saying that the Miller web site doesn’t have a way of checking whether or not you’re telling the truth.
That said, I don’t know if there’s some sort of law that says only people over 21 (in the US) can look at beer-industry websites. BUT, I can easily imagine that the good people at Miller, always eager to avoid a lawsuit, want to make it look like they’re trying to keep minors out of their websites.
Imagine this hypothetical scenario: an 18-year-old looks at Miller’s website (as evidenced by the history on the computer). He gets loaded on Miller beer. He drives home from the party, slams into a van carrying a group of junior high kids on their way home from a church youth group activity, and kills them all. Whose fault is it? Why, in this litiguous American society, it’s the Miller company’s fault, of course! The parents of all these children sue Miller for billions, because their advertising caused the under-21 lad to break the law and kill their children. WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN???
But that situation is impossible, because the Miller company requires you to put your birthday in before seeing their website. “Don’t blame us,” sez the Miller lawyer. “We asked him for his birthday. He lied.”
So that’s how I see it. Maybe a real lawyer will be along later to comfirm or deny my theory.
It’s there because of the ad laws “targeted” to underage users. Go ahead and lie. You won’t get into trouble. But your conscience will know