Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Is Your Web Site COPPA Compliant?

By Alan L. Friel
December 28, 2006

In 1998, Congress passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), broadly expanding the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) enforcement powers in the Internet arena. Since then, states and the FTC have become more active in regulating the collection, use and security of consumer's personal information generally. However, the protection of children's personal information remains a top FTC enforcement goal, and the commission has become more aggressive in enforcement of COPPA each year. Companies that fail to proactively act to ensure COPPA compliance do so at the risk of seven-figure penalties.

COPPA's goal is to prevent Web sites from collecting information about children under the age of 13 without informed parental consent. When Congress passed COPPA, it required the FTC to provide guidelines (Rules) to advise Web site operators on how to avoid a COPPA violation. The Rules apply a sliding scale of parental consent requirements if a Web site is 'directed at children under 13 years old' or the Web site operators have knowledge that children under 13 are submitting personal information. In March 2006, the FTC completed a review of the Rule and announced that it would be retained unchanged.

Web sites that violate COPPA are subject to substantial penalties, which have increased over recent years. For example, in 2003, Mrs. Fields and Hershey's paid the then highest-to-date civil penalties of $100,000 and $85,000, respectively, because they collected personal information from children under the age of 13 without obtaining informed parental consent. Three years later, in September 2006, Xanga.com, a popular social networking Web site, agreed to pay a $1 million penalty for maintaining a user registration system that permitted users under the age of 13 to submit personal information, finding that certain registration submissions established knowledge that restricted information was being improperly collected.

This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473

Read These Next
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws Image

This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.

The Article 8 Opt In Image

The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.

Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin Image

With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.

Legal Possession: What Does It Mean? Image

Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.

The Anti-Assignment Override Provisions Image

UCC Sections 9406(d) and 9408(a) are one of the most powerful, yet least understood, sections of the Uniform Commercial Code. On their face, they appear to override anti-assignment provisions in agreements that would limit the grant of a security interest. But do these sections really work?