Reports around the globe seem to be indicating that Google may soon allow children to have their own accounts. The rumor is that the suite of services will be compliant with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). We hear that they are planning to create children versions of platforms like Youtube and Gmail. To find out more, check out this article .

It's no secret the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act can be a little confusing. To clarify some of the law's more difficult nuances the FTC published the COPPA FAQs several years ago. The FTC is constantly updating the FAQs as the law evolves with new technologies. Today, the COPPA FAQs have been updated again in an effort to help companies better understand COPPA's fine details. The updates address acceptable methods of verifiable parental consent. Changes can be found in FAQs H.5 and H.10, and there is also a new FAQs are located  at H.16.  You can find the new COPPA FAQs on the FTC Website . 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit against Amazon.com last week seeking millions of dollars in restitution for unauthorized charges, which were incurred by children making in-app purchases without obtaining parental consent while playing online games. Although Apple agreed to pay a $32.5 million settlement, Amazon insists that it has addressed consumer complaints for unauthorized purchases individually and maintains that its situation is different from Apple's. The FTC, however, believes that despite years of consumer issues, Amazon allowed these practices to persist. To read more about the FTC's second case recently involving in-app purchases, visit the FTC website for further details.

It's certainly no secret that there are millions of children on Facebook who legally are not supposed to be there, but pretty soon they may just get their wish. Facebook has filed for a patent that would allow them to finally join. The patent would allow for parental supervision--just adding one more thing to parents' neverending to-dos! To read more about what this process would entail, click here .

As is widely known in the industry, the FTC has declared that it will soon begin targeting tech companies that are violating COPPA. While this action hasn't begun quite yet such action is believed to be on the horizon. Industry experts expect some actions to be just around the corner. To read more about what actions are to be expected in this space, check out this article .

With the release of COPPA 2.0 last summer and with the flourishing of the mobile app environment, privacy concerns recently have been largely focused on what information has been collected from mobile platforms. Now, with Facebook’s recent acquisition of Oculus VR we may see a whole new slew of privacy issues stemming from a world of virtual reality. Read more about this and the privacy issues that we may see here .

It's that time of year again: CARU's 4th  Annual West Coast Conference:  Marketing to Children in a Digital Landscape. The conference is going to be held   May 7th, 2014 at  The Beverly Hilton  in Los Angeles, CA. Hear from the experts about the legal and practical challenges posed by implementing the FTC's new Children’s Privacy Regulations as they apply to Apps, social media, websites and more. Panelists will examine domestic and global challenges to self-regulation of advertising to children including social media, mobile marketing, and advertising and marketing in Latino markets. The conference will also provide attendees with practical information to enhance their ability to navigate the children’s advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum, specifically CARU’s Self-Regulatory Program for children’s advertising.  This year there will also be a special workshop focusing on Food and Beverage marketing to children. This will be held the day bef...