The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) typically reviews its rules every 10 years, but due to the rapid changes in technology, including the expanding use of education technology, the committee has decided to ask for comments on the amendments it made to the Children's Online Privacy Protection act (COPPA) in 2013. COPPA first went into effect in 2000 and its purpose is to protect children’s privacy by giving parents tools to control what information is collected from their children online. In addition to standard questions about the effectiveness of the COPPA Rule and whether it should be retained or modified, the FTC is seeking comment on all major provisions of the COPPA Rule, including its definitions, notice and parental consent requirements, exceptions to verifiable parental consent, and safe harbor provision.  The FTC will hold a public workshop on October 7, 2019 to examine the COPPA Rule. Some of the specific questions on which the FTC is seeking comment...

After CARU recommended that Facebook, Inc. modify its mobile app to improve its mechanism to prevent underage users from circumventing the age screen, Facebook complied and made the necessary changes. Historically websites have used session cookies to prevent children from going back and changing their age, but until CARU examined its mobile app, Facebook did not implement a mechanism to prevent children from circumventing the age screen. Previously on the app, when a registrant entered a birthday corresponding to an age younger than 13, a message denied registration. However, the registrant was immediately able to change the originally-entered date of birth and continue attempts until a valid age was chosen that allowed registration. Although mobile technology is still developing and companies are working hard to adapt traditional privacy principles to this new age, CARU Director, Dona J. Fraser said, “We are pleased that Facebook now becomes the first company working with CARU t...

YouTube attracts many kids to its platform, but who is behind the videos they watch? A recent   article   in the   Wall Street Journal   by Yoree Koh and Betsy Morris tackles this question. The top ten children’s channels on YouTube are CoCoMelon, Vlad and Nikita, Like Nastya Vlog, Toys and Colors, Kids Diana Show, Ryan Toys Review, El Reino Infantil, Toys and Little Gaby, Family Games TV, and TocToc Toys. The   Journal   tried to contact all of these channels, but only one was reachable and communicative.   Seven didn’t respond to communications or were unable to be found; two declined to be interviewed. According to the Executive Director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Josh Golin, being unable to identify creators of children’s YouTube programming “‘adds to the lack of accountability.’”  YouTube has already been under fire recently for its lack of controls. Notably, some children’s videos  reportedly  showed...

Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash Facebook has once again found themselves in hot water. The UK Parliament released internal documents from the 'Book appearing to reveal that executives, including Mark Zuckerberg may have once again, made poor decisions on how to handle users' data. The internal emails seem to show how the company made deals to give certain companies (like Netflix and AirBnB) special access to user data while refusing others (like Twitter-owned, Vine). To read more about Facebook's most recent alleged misconduct, visit The Times article online.

In case you haven't heard, CARU Director, Dona Fraser and Senior Attorney, Katie Goldstein were guests on the Better Business Bureau's (BBB) podcast, The Bistro. We discussed essential tips for parents buying connected toys this holiday season. We had a great time and gave some excellent advice (if we do say so ourselves!) to help keep kids privacy safe. Check out The Bistro Podcast on Tips for Buying Connected Toys online. So if connected toys are on your child's wish list, be sure to give it a listen! And if you haven't already, be sure to check out our article from last year about  tips for buying connected toys on our blog.

As legislators and policy advocates make a stronger push for a comprehensive federal privacy law that would protect millions of consumers in the United States, Intel submitted a draft as well amidst a growing number of consumer privacy proposals that could set the nation’s privacy standards. The tech company released an initial draft of a federal privacy bill that aims to protect the privacy of consumers while also protecting innovation. The bill, titled “Innovative and Ethical Data Use Act of 2018”, outlines twelve sections from general applicability provisions to a proposed effective date. The draft bill also includes what kind of enforcement authority the Federal Trade Commission and Attorney-General would have under the Act, and guidelines for data privacy practices as well as for reviewing third-party actions. Intel has been able to recruit top data privacy professionals to provide input on the bill, a number of whom come from consumer privacy organizations like the Interna...

I-Dressup, a fashion-themed social website for teens, has completely shut down as part of a settlement with the New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs, following a massive privacy breach and violations of the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and New Jersey state law. In September 2016, a hacker sent 2.2 million i-Dressup account credentials to technology blog Arstechnica as well as to haveibeenpwned.com, a searchable online database of data breaches. Responding to the news, New Jersey investigators discovered that 2,519 of the compromised accounts belonged to New Jersey children below age 13. I-Dressup, allegedly aware that it had child users, had violated COPPA by failing to obtain verifiable parental consent prior to collecting and processing personal information from the children, including first and last names and email addresses. In a consent decree with the New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Gerwal, parent company...

Today, The Federal Trade Commission enacted the final amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, which it had been working on since 2010. The amendments strengthen children's privacy protections and give parents greater control over the personal information that websites and online services may collect from children under 13. The Federal Trade Commission chose to update the Rule in order to keep up with changing technology, the increased use of mobile and tablet devices as well as the novel ways children use these devices. After several rounds of public comment and many roudtable sessions discussing the update, the Federal Trade Commission released the final changes to COPPA today. Visit the Federal Trade Commission's website for more detailed information about the update.

The Federal Trade Commission has extended its deadline for the public to submit comments on proposed amendments to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) until December 23, 2011. COPPA gives parents control over what personal information may be collected from children under 13. The FTC has proposed amendments to COPPA to ensure that the rule remains relevant as new technologies evolve. Click HERE to read more about this on the FTC's website.

Facebook has agreed to settle deception charges by the Federal Trade Commission.  Facebook allegedly promised its consumers that they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then allowed it to be shared and made public.  Click HERE to read the rest of the article on the FTC's website.

The Children's Advertising Review Unit's Public Service Announcement has been getting a ton of press lately. The spots have been featured numerous times over the past couple of weeks on ABC's Good Morning America, Regis and Kelly and Rachel Ray. They have aired on Discovery Kids several times as well. Even online news sources like the Mississippi Daily has featured CARU's campaign. Check out what MS Digital Daily had to say about it here .

CARU's Associate Director, Phyllis Spaeth spoke on a roundtable panel about the "Actual Knowledge" standard in Today's Online Environment.  CARU's Director, Wayne Keeley and staff attorney, Angela Tiffin also attended this important meeting. In light of rapidly changing technology , the Federal Trade Commission hosted a public roundtable, “Protecting Kids’ Privacy Online: Reviewing the COPPA Rule,” on June 2, 2010 to explore whether to update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule. The Rule was enacted in 2000 and requires Web site operators to obtain parental consent before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children under 13. Other Roundtable topics included: Whether the Rule should be applied to emerging media such as mobile devices, interactive television, and interactive gaming; Potential expansion of the Rule to cover more items of information that might be collected from children; and, A review of the parental verificat...