Feds may update rules on kids’ online privacy
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators this week began considering ways to update and potentially expand enforcement of the country’s kids online privacy law, questioning whether swift advances in technology have outpaced rules meant to protect children under age 13.
The effort by the Federal Trade Commission is in its initial phases, but the agency’s re-evaluation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, could eventually lead to tougher enforcement of the 1998 law against apps and websites that illegally collect personal information from younger users.
“In light of rapid technological changes that impact the online children’s marketplace, we must ensure COPPA remains effective,” said FTC Chairman Joe Simons in a statement.
Among the FTC’s concerns are websites, video games and other services that aren’t explicitly marketed for children but still attract large numbers of kids anyway. An FTC investigation into YouTube that’s now underway originated with complaints from consumer groups, which argued the Google-owned streaming site violates COPPA through its large number of highly popular channels featuring content for young children, such as nursery rhymes and simplistic cartoons. YouTube says the site is not intended for children.
COPPA prohibits companies from collecting kids’ data in most circumstances or targeting them with personalized advertising, but the law applies only to websites or apps that are directed at children or have “actual knowledge” that users are under 13. Consumer and privacy groups long have complained this has allowed YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Fortnite and others to avoid the legal restrictions of COPPA, despite polling and other evidence showing they are popular with preteens.
In response, the FTC is seeking comment on how it might update its rules for enforcing COPPA to address the potential gap. The commission also seeks to determine if COPPA sufficiently covers newer technologies, including smart televisions, educational technologies and interactive games, which could include such new, massively popular titles such as Fortnite. The issues count among the 29 questions the agency posed for public comment in the Federal Register, the first step in what could be more than a year of work that leads to an update in the was COPPA is enforced.
The FTC’s five commissioners — three Republicans and two Democrats — voted unanimously to initiate the review, which came as a surprise to some consumer advocates but illustrates that their complaints about the limits of COPPA have garnered attention at the FTC.
“I can only speculate that in trying to determine whether companies were violating COPPA, it became clear that there were many situations where the rules were ambiguous, did not clearly cover privacy-invasive conduct or were simply ineffective,” said Angela Campbell, a law professor at Georgetown University who represents a coalition of consumer advocates and privacy groups that have filed FTC complaints about alleged COPPA violations by several technology companies.