Patricia

Section 06

For Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

(COPPA)

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998

TITLE XIII-CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY PRSEC. 1302. DEFINITIONS.

In this title: (1) CHILD.—The term "child" means an individual under the

age of 13. (2) OPERATOR.—The term "operator"— (A) means any person who operates a website located on the

Internet or an online service and who collects or maintains personal information from or about the users of or visitors to such website or online service, or on whose behalf such information is collected or maintained, where such website or online service is operated for commercial purposes, including any person offering products or services for sale through that website or online service, involving commerce—

What is COPPA?

During the 1990’s, the internet became a major source, sales, and distribution of products and services. A growing segment of users of these services are children

The interactive nature of the Internet enabled marketers to collect personal information from children through their registration to chat rooms and discussion boards, to track behavior of web surfers through advertisements, and to promise gifts in exchange for personal information

CNN, on December 14, 1995, reported that look up services could be used to locate children

After the 1995 news reports, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission. The EPIC letter urged an investigation of the R.R. Donnelley marketing company, which was reportedly selling children's personal information

History

History EPIC testified in Congress in favor of

privacy protections for children in September 1996

In response to growing public interest in children's privacy, in March 1998 the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") presented the Congress with a report addressing the lack of regulation and protection of children's information online.

In July 1998, Senators Richard Bryan (D-NV) and John McCain (R-AZ) introduced 105 S. 2326, titled "The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998

The Act took effect in April 2000. The Act was passed in response to a growing

awareness of Internet marketing techniques that targeted children and collected their personal information from websites without any parental notification.

The Act applies to commercial websites and online services that are directed at children

History Con’t

Applies to the online collection of personal information from children under 13

An operator must notify a parent that it wishes to collect personal information from the child; that the parent's consent is required for the collection, use and disclosure of the information; and how the parent can provide consent

The notice to parents must be written clearly and understandably, and must not contain any unrelated or confusing information.

An operator may use any one of a number of methods to notify a parent, including sending an email message to the parent or a notice by postal mail.

How to comply with law

Reasons to be FOR COPPA

• Keep children under 13 safe from marketers and especially predators

• Parents will be able to monitor their children’s

online behavior• Help reduce cyberbullying• General privacy protection

Reasons for COPPA to become more strict It is very easy for children under

the age of 13 to get access to sites that ban children under the age of 13 http://journalistsresource.org/studies/internet/parents-children-facebook-privacy-age

For example, More than three-quarters (76%) of parents surveyed reported that their child joined Facebook when she was younger than 13, the minimum age in the site’s terms of service.

Only 53% of parents said they were aware that Facebook has a minimum signup age; 35% of these parents believe that the minimum age is a site recommendation (not a condition of site use), or thought the signup age was 16 or 18, and not 13.

Playdom, Inc., is an online game company owned by Disney paid $3 million dollars to settle a COPPA violation charge

collected and disclosed personal info of children under the age of 13 without parents consent

operated 20 “virtual world” gaming websites and when children registered on the websites, they collected children’s personal information, like their ages and email addresses

failed to provide sufficient notice on their websites of what information they collected from children and how they used and disclosed such information.

COPPA Violations

In Indonesia, a young girl on facebook accepted a friend request that she would later regret. The request was from a predator, unknowingly to her. After a few exchanges of text messages, he convinced her to meet him at a local mall. She got into the car with him and he took her far out of town. He locked her in a small room with other young girls, drugged her and raped her and told her she would soon be shipped to a brothel.

She eventually was found a month later at a bus station

A Facebook Privacy Invasion Story

11

Parents role to ensure privacy protectionKeep an eye on what children do onlineRead privacy policy statementsDecide if you, the parent is going to give

consentSet family rules for online computer use

Learn about the online services your child uses

Percentage of children & Adolescents age 5-17 who use computers and the

Internet

12

United States . Federal Trade Commission. What is COPPA?. 2012. Print. <http://www.coppa.org

United States . Federal Trade Commission. Operators of Online "Virtual Worlds" to Pay $3 Million to Settle FTC Charges That They Illegally Collected and Disclosed Children's Personal Information. 2011. Print. <http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/05/playdom.shtm>.

Weigel, Margaret. "Journalist's Resource." Journalist's Resource. (2011): n. page. Print. <http://journalistsresource.org/studies/internet/parents-children-facebook-privacy-age>.

Margie, Mason. "Facebook used to kidnap, traffic Indonesian girls ." USA Today 29 10 2012, n. pag. Print. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/10/29/facebook-used-to-kidnap-traffic-indonesian-girls/1665321/>.

United States . Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Children’s Online Privacy: A Resource Guide for Parents. 2012. Print. <https://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs21-children.htm>.

Works Cited