{
  "compartment_id": "section-17",
  "number": "Section 17",
  "title_local": "Minors: a Steam login is not an age check",
  "title_english": "Minors: a Steam login is not an age check",
  "source_url": "https://phishdestroy.io/steam_dossier/#minors-protection",
  "source_document": "index.html",
  "content": {
    "html": "<section class=\"border-t border-gray-800 pt-6 accountability-section\" id=\"minors-protection\">\n<div class=\"max-w-7xl mx-auto space-y-8\">\n<div class=\"case-section-heading section-head section-head-balanced\"><div class=\"section-head-primary\"><span class=\"kicker\">Part C — Legal frameworks · Section 17 · Identity, age, commercial access</span><h2>Minors: a Steam login is not an age check</h2>\n<section class=\"dossier-note chapter-context\"><div class=\"dossier-note-title\">Context &amp; source limits</div><p class=\"chapter-context-text\">No minor's data appears anywhere in this dossier and none was collected: the authors did not register on, deposit at, or complete a login to any platform named. Anyone building on this section should keep evidence involving a child private and redact identifying details from public exhibits. COPPA is cited here as a children's privacy law with its own scope conditions — audience, actual knowledge, personal data collected — and not as a general gambling-age rule; the 2026 New York complaint is an allegation by a state authority, not a finding.</p></section></div><div class=\"section-head-intro\"><p class=\"lede\">\"Sign in with Steam\" proves an account exists. <strong class=\"text-white\">It proves nothing about age</strong> — and on these sites it is the only gate between a child and a deposit. Read it with <a class=\"underline\" href=\"#inside-steam-filter\">Section 3.1</a>: inside the Steam client the warning a browser would show never fires, so the child never sees one.</p></div></div>\n<div class=\"age-bridge\"><div><span class=\"case-kicker\">What Steam OpenID provides</span><strong>Account identity</strong><p>A verified SteamID used to log in or link an account.</p></div><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"age-bridge-symbol\">≠</span><div><span class=\"case-kicker\">What the operator must establish</span><strong>Eligibility to participate</strong><p>Age, jurisdiction and any required identity checks.</p></div></div>\n<p class=\"case-source\">Technical basis: <a href=\"https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/auth#website\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Steamworks OpenID documentation ↗</a> <a class=\"archived-link\" href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20260921022335/https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/auth\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">archived 2026-09-21 ↗</a>. The documented identity assertion is not a certification that the user may legally gamble.</p>\n<div class=\"case-law-columns\"><div><span class=\"case-kicker\">COPPA / children under 13</span><h3>Identify the operator and the data.</h3><p>COPPA applies to covered child-directed services and services with actual knowledge that they collect personal information from children under 13. It is a children's privacy law, not a universal gambling-age rule. Establish the audience, personal data collected, knowledge and parental-consent process.</p><p class=\"case-source\"><a href=\"https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/childrens-online-privacy-protection-rule-coppa\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">FTC: COPPA requirements ↗</a> <a class=\"archived-link\" href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20260921070051/https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/childrens-online-privacy-protection-rule-coppa\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">archived 2026-09-21 ↗</a></p></div><div><span class=\"case-kicker\">The evidence to preserve</span><h3>Record the journey from login to deposit.</h3><p>Preserve the site's age gate, registration wording, eligibility terms, payment flow and complaint history. Assess each operator separately. Keep any evidence involving a child private and redact identifying details from public exhibits.</p><p class=\"case-source\">A related public enforcement record is the <a href=\"https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-sues-game-developer-promoting-illegal-gambling-through\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">2026 New York complaint announcement</a> <a class=\"archived-link\" href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20260901015430/https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-sues-game-developer-promoting-illegal-gambling-through\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">archived 2026-09-01 ↗</a>, which alleges harm to young users from paid loot boxes. It is not a COPPA finding.</p></div></div>\n</div>\n</section>"
  },
  "original_content_sha256": "abb6acdb599e5f097ccc8a22ac26a8dd5ad21a4c2d44f57d9a0590302a976856",
  "author_pseudonym": "Agent Mary",
  "schema": "phishdestroy.macro-fact.v1",
  "language": "en",
  "aggregator": "PhishDestroy",
  "exports": {
    "pdf": "/steam_dossier/exports/agent-protocol/files/en/steam_dossier_section_17_agent_mary.pdf",
    "json": "/steam_dossier/exports/agent-protocol/files/en/steam_dossier_section_17_agent_mary.json",
    "signature": "/steam_dossier/exports/agent-protocol/files/en/steam_dossier_section_17_agent_mary.json.asc"
  },
  "integrity": {
    "signed_object": "steam_dossier_section_17_agent_mary.json",
    "signature_file": "steam_dossier_section_17_agent_mary.json.asc",
    "signing_key_fingerprint": "129FC7F39C40C69D2EF3C329BFCF9E8DD295EE01",
    "scope": "Exact JSON bytes, including macro-fact author and corresponding PDF SHA-256. PhishDestroy is the integrity signer; original evidence attribution is unchanged."
  },
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    "filename": "steam_dossier_section_17_agent_mary.pdf",
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