Teddy bears once filled with stuffing are now hard-wired with smart technology. Internet-connected toys can be fun but they can also put your family at risk if proper care is not taken when buying and using these devices. Now, more than ever before, The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) encounters toys that may collect personal information (e.g. name, email address) from children. Unfortunately, this may be done without parents knowing it’s happening. Much like many offline experiences where parent’s permission is required before collecting or using your child’s information, the online world is the same: parental permission is required! These connected toys aren’t inherently bad; in fact, they can be highly educational and fun as long as parents are well-informed and choose wisely. But if you choose the wrong toy, there can be consequences (check out our issues we had with a recent smart toy here ) Santa checks his list twice and responsible parents should too-- you may b

Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provided additional guidance on the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) when it comes to voice recordings. Find out more about this policy on the FTC's website here .

CARU recently welcomed leading privacy expert, Dona Fraser to its team as its Director. We are looking forward to an exciting year full of new opportunities. Dona comes to CARU from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a self-regulatory program developed by the video game industry. Ms. Fraser brings a strong understanding of the challenges that the industry is facing both here and abroad. As CARU enters this new and exciting era, we look forward to sharing our upcoming priorities in the near future. For more information, please visit CARU's Press Release here .

Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued an updated version of The FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking . The revised version includes more than an additional 20 questions and answers to specific scenarios of social media marketing and whether disclosures of material connections are required in such situations. These new questions touch upon tags, Instagram, Snapchat, obligations of foreign influencers, disclosure of free travel as well as the adequacy of certain popularized hashtags like #ambassador.

In an effort to stay up to date with technology developments like internet-connected toys and other devices for children, the Federal Trade  Commission (“FTC”)  updated its guidance for complying with  the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). It released  a “ Six-Step Compliance Plan for Your Business ." The document is an excellent resource for businesses looking for clarity and guidance on how to comply with COPPA.

You know you’ve made it when you’re featured on HBO’s hit comedy, Silicon Valley, the show that portrays the hilarious ups and downs of a Bay Area tech start-up.  The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) got a starring role last week in the second episode – “Term of Service” – of the show’s 4th Season on HBO. To recap, Dinesh Chugtai, CEO of the company that developed the wildly popular app “PiperChat,” has a breakdown when he realizes that the video chat app violates COPPA because 1/3 of its users are kids under 13 years old.  He loses his power-trip swagger when the start-up’s ex-con lawyer tells him about the $16,000 per usage violation –potential fines in the billions of dollars – and eventually collapses in a pitiful heap in the company bathtub.  What Dinesh and the show’s writers don’t know is that it in June 2016, the FTC announced that it would be increasing its maximum civil penalty amount from $16,000 to $40,000 per violation under COPPA. Had Dines

The Federal Trade Commission and Amazon Inc. have agreed to end the appeal based on last year's court findings that Amazon charged consumers for unauthorized in-app charges incurred by children. Affected consumers will soon be able to seek refunds from the online retailer. Visit the FTC press release  for more information.

YouTube made a big change yesterday, shaking up the industry for online content creators. The popular website decided to stop serving ads on YouTube Partner channels that have not reached at least 10,000 lifetime views. The purpose of requiring the threshold views is to provide the platform information to ensure the validity of a channel. This will hopefully help to avoid advertisers' content ending up on inappropriate and/or illegal channels that violate YouTube's Terms of Service. For more information, check out this article in Ad Age .

Yesterday, the New York State Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman announced a settlement with True Ultimate Standards Everywhere, Inc. ("TRUSTe"), a technology security company. TRUSTe failed to adequately assess members' websites, leaving child visitors to be tracked without parental consent. This is prohibited under the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). For more information, visit the State Attorney General's press release here .

CARU sent Senior Staff attorney, Angela Tiffin down to Washington D.C. for a special half day meeting about Empowering and Protecting Youth in the Big Data Era. The meeting was hosted by Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialog (TACD) and brought together leading consumer and privacy advocates, academics, policy makers, and industry representatives for a focused roundtable discussion. Conversation topics included key privacy and advertising issues raised by emerging trends in contemporary children’s digital media. If you have a meeting or conference that you would like CARU to speak at or attend please contact our Manager of Business and Marketing, Jay Black at Jblack@caru.bbb.org.

The BBC is reporting that when it comes to recommended videos on YouTube there is a real issue. It has reportedly discovered  that  thousands of  these recommended  videos , which  appear to be popular children's cartoons like Peppa Pig and the characters from Disney's Frozen, contain disturbing and violent content not suitable for children. To read more about this, click here to visit the BBC's article .

Google is changing the game with "Google Family Link," an app that allows parents to create special Google accounts for children under 13. Not only does the app allow parents to create the accounts but it provides easy access for monitoring. The program is currently only available in the US and is only available if you have an invitation. For more information, check out Google's blog to learn more.

Senator Bill Nelson asked Spiral Toys' to provide specific details about the company's security practices after it was reported that hackers repeatedly gained access to databases containing sensitive customer information including that of children. For more information, check out this article in the Washington Times .

CARU is hosting a Supporters' Council Meeting on March 14, 2017. Supporters will have a chance to discuss current and emerging issues. The event will be held at Reed Smith's New York office ( 599 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10022)  starting at 11:00 a.m. EST. Breakfast will be served at 10:30 a.m. We will also be hosting the event remotely at the same time from Reed Smith's offices in Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Chicago. There will be a call in number as well. Please contact Jay Black at JBlack@caru.bbb.org or (212) 705-0111 to register. We look forward to seeing you there.

CARU got a sneak peek at the toys your children are going to be playing with this year. Toy Fair is produced by the Toy Industry Association (TIA), a not-for-profit trade association and is hosted annually in New York City at the Jacob Javits Center. Each year hundreds of toy companies attend and CARU views the latest toys as part of our goal to ensure that advertising to children is truthful and accurate. CARU was able to watch demonstrations of new robotics, toys connected to mobile apps, virtual reality devices and even interactive holograms. But don't worry there are also toys that encourage kids to move and be active as well as some of our favorite retro toys that are being reintroduced and updated for a new generation.