Coping with COPPA
Children's Privacy in an Online Jungle
By Robert Cannon
By and large, when it comes to protecting consumer
privacy, the mantra in Washington has been
self-regulation. Privacy gaffes by online companies
are characterized as merely the normal growing pains
of the new online economy. In addressing them,
government has generally opted to negotiate
resolutions with industry and consumer groups, rather
than apply new regulations.
As with many issues, however, when it comes to
children, industry blunders have swiftly been greeted
by the sound of the gavel coming down. This April
marked the first anniversary of the Children's Online
Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the first online
privacy law to come out of Washington. Since its
inception, COPPA has accounted for $100,000 in civil
penalties levied against Web businesses. Compliance
with new Federal regulations, in which the details are
still fuzzy, can be a challenge. As always, if you
find that your business plan includes areas under
COPPA's jurisdiction, investment in good legal advice
might be a sound decision. A working understanding of
the law can also help you identify potential trouble
areas, and set your site along the path to COPPA
compliance.
Damning Evidence
The story of COPPA began in the mid-1990s. A 1996
report by the Center for Media Education (CME), which
documented how online services handled children's
information, gave the first indication that
self-regulation alone wasn't enough when it came to
kids' privacy.
