FTC seeks comments on COPPA rule
The FTC has released a request for comments on the Children’s Online Privacy Rule. The comment period is open until June 27, 2005.
The review is required by COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Act of 1998, which mandated a review five years after the rule’s effective date of April 21, 2000. The FTC is also extending the sliding scale approach to obtaining parental consent until completing its review of the rule.
The agency is looking for comments on the rule’s effect on online data practices relating to children, children’s ability to access content online, and availability of web sites directed to children.
Also, the agency is seeking comments on four specific issues, namely: (i) should the factors used to assess whether a web site is directed at children be updated; (ii) is the term “actual knowledge” clear given that some sites allow children to revise their age submission if they entered an age that was under 13; (iii) how should credit cards be used to obtain verifiable parental consent, given that debit cards are marketed to children; and (iv) what feedback is to be had on the COPPA safe harbor program.
Given the on-going enforcement actions by the FTC around COPPA, further clarifications to promote compliance would be desirable. Last year, UMG paid a record $400,000 civil penalty for violating COPPA. It failed to obtain parental consent when it had actual knowledge of children's ages, and its web site for teeny bopper pop star L'il Romeo was found to be directed at children. This resulted in an FTC bulletin that clarified that actual knowledge can be obtained indirectly such as through asking a child about their grade level in school.
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