Children and the Internet - Children's Online Privacy Protection Act In 1999 (coppa)

CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT IN (COPPA) (1999 )

The FTC's findings led the U.S. Congress to pass the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act in 1999. The act mandated that the FTC produce rules to govern the online compilation and use of personal information from children under 13. Web site operators must provide notice and obtain "verifiable parental consent" before they can gather or disclose information from children. Web sites must alert parents about their policies concerning children's personal data, and site operators must remedy situations when a child's information has been disclosed. If a parent requests it, the operator is required to describe the personal information collected from the child. COPPA restricts enticing children to disclose personal information through contests or prizes. However, it does not provide parents or children a private right of action. It also shields Web sites from liability if they can demonstrate a good faith effort to remedy prior disclosure of a child's personal information. Under the FTC's rule, businesses may implement self-regulatory "safe harbor" programs by submitting guidelines to the FTC for approval. Many smaller Internet businesses protested COPPA, stating that compliance costs would be impossible to manage. They argued that parental compliance forms would discourage traffic to lesser-known sites and many children would access teen or adult-oriented sites to circumvent parental compliance altogether.