In order to be in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), LiveJournal requires that users under the age of thirteen have parental permission to use the site. Registering with a birthdate indicating that you are under the age of thirteen will flag your account as underage, and any subsequent accounts you create will also be marked as underage, until you complete the age verification process.
United States law requires that LiveJournal implement these restrictions; because LiveJournal is located in the United States, all users must comply with these requirements, even if they live elsewhere. Users under the age of thirteen will need to complete their process with their parents. Similarly, any user whose account was incorrectly flagged as underage will also need to complete the age verification process in order to use their account.
If your account was incorrectly flagged as underage -- either because you incorrectly entered your birthdate, or used a computer after someone else who is underage -- you can complete the verification process using your own information, rather than that of a parent or guardian. Without completing the age verification process, you will not be able to use your account.
The easiest method of verification is by credit card authorization. To do this, you will need to log into your account and follow the instructions at http://www.livejournal.com/agecheck/. You will be prompted for your parent or guardian's email address, and they will be given the opportunity to enter their credit card details. The system will attempt to authorize the card for the amount of USD $0.01, but will not actually make the charges; it will simply verify your information the existence of the card in question. The card will not be charged, nor will the card number be saved or otherwise stored. A verification link will then be sent to the parent or guardian's email address, and clicking that link will activate your account.
If you cannot complete the electronic verification for any reason, there are alternate methods of age verification. This process requires that you or your parents submit a copy of a government-issued ID (such as a driver's license or passport) or a birth certificate, either by mail, fax, or email. Once we receive this form, we ask you to give us several days to process it and remove the underage status from your account.