wikiHow:COPPA Parental Permission Form


A Note from wikiHow's Founder

As a fellow parent, I'd like to offer a few words about having your child participate on wikiHow. As a wikiHow policy and to comply with the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we do not allow children under the age of 13 to create an account unless we have verifiable permission from their parents. Yet occasionally, children as young as 11 or 12 enjoy editing on wikiHow. In my experience, I've noticed that academically-gifted children often prefer wikiHow to other Internet sites. Our adult level of writing and editing challenges the gifted child in a way that schools may not. That said, wikiHow is not designed for children and like all Internet sites, children are at risk of exposing their personally identifiable information. If you decide to let your child participate here, I would recommend that you monitor their activities. Some good tips are available in How to Be a Safe and Smart Kid on wikiHow. Please consider creating your own account here and working with your child to build this how-to manual. wikiHow is one of the few activities online that can be enjoyed by people of any generation.

Best,

Jack Herrick
Founder of wikiHow

Consent for a Child's Participation on wikiHow

As a parent or legal guardian of a child, under the age of 13, we ask that you take the time to complete this permission form prior to your child's participation on wikiHow.

While wikiHow does not require personal information to create an account, your child may choose to share personal information in some of the editing activities they may participate in around the site. Although we strongly discourage young people from disclosing any personally identifiable information on wikiHow, our open editing format does not prevent such posts. wikiHow does not have employees that are able to monitor the activities or safety of every child while they are using our website. We strongly encourage parents or guardians to discuss safe Internet practices with their children.

If you wish to give your child permission to participate in wikiHow activities, please fill out the form below or click here to download our PDF version.

Consent to Participate in wikiHow



This letter indicates that my child:

Child's wikiHow Username: ________________________________

Child's wikiHow Realname (if provided): ___________________________________

has my permission to create an account, edit articles and participate in forum discussions and all other activities on wikiHow (http://www.wikihow.com) and associated websites. I acknowledge that I have read and accept wikiHow's Terms of Use (available at http://www.wikihow.com/Terms-of-Use) as applicable to my child. I understand that while wikiHow does not require personal information to create an account, my child may choose to share personal information on wikiHow, including their real name and Email address. In addition, they may choose to place other identifiable information on wikiHow by editing their user page, article discussion pages or other pages on wikiHow and associated sites.

Parent's/Guardian's name: ___________________________________

Parent's/Guardian's phone number: ___________________________________

Parent's/Guardian's Email address: ___________________________________

Parent's/Guardian's signature: ___________________________________



Please send a copy of this signed form to wikiHow via any of the following:

  • Send a scanned PDF via Email to wiki@wikihow.com
  • Mail to:
wikiHow
228 Hamilton Avenue, Third Floor
Palo Alto, CA 94301
USA



Once we have received your copy, we will contact you to confirm that we have received your permission. At that time, your child will be free to fully participate on wikiHow.

At a later time, if you no longer want your child to participate at wikiHow or you want to remove any personal information that wikiHow has collected from your child, prevent the further use or maintenance of such information or direct the deletion of your child's personal information, please instruct us to do so at the contact information listed above.

Contact Information

For any questions regarding COPPA, please contact: