The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, act as legal, financial or credit advice; instead, it is for general informational purposes only. Information on this website may not be current. This website may contain links to other third-party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser; we do not recommend or endorse the contents of any third-party sites. Readers of this website should contact their attorney, accountant or credit counselor to obtain advice with respect to their particular situation. No reader, user, or browser of this site should act or not act on the basis of information on this site. Always seek personal legal, financial or credit advice for your relevant jurisdiction. Only your individual attorney or advisor can provide assurances that the information contained herein – and your interpretation of it – is applicable or appropriate to your particular situation. Use of, and access to, this website or any of the links or resources contained within the site do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship between the reader, user, or browser and website owner, authors, contributors, contributing firms, or their respective employers.
Credit.com receives compensation for the financial products and services advertised on this site if our users apply for and sign up for any of them. Compensation is not a factor in the substantive evaluation of any product.
Privacy advocates – and parents – have a lot to celebrate. Last week, the updated Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, went into effect — providing greater online privacy protections for children under the age of 13. The new law updates a decade-old law that couldn’t keep up with the era of smartphones and social media.
Websites and apps are required to get parental consent for collecting personal information about children 13 and younger. What has changed is the definition of “personal information.”
Under COPPA, personal information now includes children’s:
This means that parental permission is required for social network-sharing, advertising data-mining and third-party plug-ins like Facebook “likes” and Google “pluses.”
Children won’t experience behavior-based advertising that tracks their every move on the Internet, as long as parents don’t provide consent. And their geo-location data—where they live, what places they visit, where they go to school—can’t be tracked without express consent as well.
In an age where 50 percent of young adults access the Internet mainly on their mobile phone, according to the Pew Research Center, it’s a big win for parents who don’t want their kids’ every step logged in a hidden data center. COPPA essentially draws a line on when data collection companies can start building online dossiers on future consumers.
The new provisions will take some time to kick in, and the Federal Trade Commission has hinted that it will provide some leeway in the adoption period.
The updated COPPA is far from perfect, but it brings meaningful change regarding the regulation of children’s data and the impact that has on their online and mobile lives. Ideally these increased privacy protections and consent requirements would apply to everyone regardless of age. It’s not likely that will happen. Too much money is involved. But it’s worth fighting for.
Image: iStockphoto
October 19, 2023
Identity Theft and Scams
May 17, 2022
Identity Theft and Scams
May 20, 2021
Identity Theft and Scams