Merric--
As responsible members of the internet community--and in particular as an entity that interacts over the internet with children--we are subject to an array of rules and guidelines. This is particularly true any time we attempt to gather information that might come from children. (I add this emphasis because it's easy for many of us to forget that a lot of WotC's users are in fact quite young, and that the rules for businesses dealing with children are quite different and more stringent that for dealing with adults.)
Some of these rules and guidelines come from the government, some from quasi-official certification agencies, and some are internal to WotC and/or Hasbro. Regardless of their source, they define our standards for gathering information, and they demand meticulous documentation of our compliance.
We make every effort to keep your information secure, and we aren't lying when we say we won't use it for anything other than the stated purpose. I'm sorry that you see our collection of birth date information as making you vulnerable, but in fact the only intent is to ensure that we are part of the solution--not part of the problem--when it comes to making the internet a safer place for all of us.
Hope that clears things up!
