Hi All,
I apologise for the delayed response. I'll now answer what questions I can:
@Serge - A driver's license with printed address is fine as long as it was issued within the last 3 months. If not, we need an alternate form of proof of residence.
@Ente - Unfortunately, I cannot discuss the specific mechanisms which trigger an account flagging in detail for obvious reasons - making this information generally available would allow those who do want to perform illegal activities to find loopholes and fly just below the radar. I'm very sorry I can't give a better answer than this.
@Bruno - I'm unfortunately not that clever. In hindsight, it would have been far better to create this information thread on a Monday when I could respond to everyone in a timely manner. I'd also like to clarify that I'm very far removed from our PR department, and only created this thread to help explain to users how our AML process works, dispel some common misconceptions, and hopefully make my job easier by reducing the number of incorrectly submitted account verification requests.
Now, to answer your question specifically:
We do not allow users under 18 to use our service as per our ToS. With regards to Zhou Tong, I've discussed it with Zhou and he's very kindly allowed us to share his personal circumstances - in his case, we received written consent and documents from his parents so that he could continue to keep an account with us, as he did indeed create an account before we had our ToS.
@dancupid - Essentially, all personal information collected by us enters into the same "pool" of data, which is a secure data store where files are kept for 5 years as legally required. We can't delete records from here, unfortunately.
@Bitco - The Japanese requirements are fairly obtuse as they've been written specifically with Japanese citizens in mind. They basically boil down to:
- A valid photographic identification document must be collected and,
- A letter must be sent by registered mail to the user's address as proof of residence.
We are currently working on putting in place a system that will let users receive registered mail to prove their residential address, but for now we are collecting alternate forms of proof of residence documents. We are very sorry for the inconvenience. With regards to returning funds, we absolutely do return funds as soon as any AML investigation is completed, unless legally required to pass the funds onto law enforcement pending additional investigation. There is no situation in which Mt.Gox will keep customer funds for itself as part of an AML investigation.
@CryptoCoinMedia - We are currently looking at outsourcing and partially automating our AML operations, although this has more to do with efficiency than transparency. We'd be very happy to hear any opinions our users might have on this point, actually. Would you prefer to provide personal information to Mt.Gox directly, or a trusted third party?
I would finally like to thank repentance for the excellent information he has also been providing throughout both threads, which is always accurate and useful.
If anyone has any additional questions, please feel free to ask.