Is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act due for a revision?
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act isn't officially due for a revision until 2015, but according to FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour, we can't afford to wait that long.
The act, passed in 1998 and made effective in 2000, was targeted toward children and places many responsibilities on a website operator to include protections in its privacy policy and obtain parents' permission before collecting personal information from children under the age of 13.
Speaking before our Framework for a Safe Internet event yesterday, Harbour argued that technology has progressed too quickly for Congress to wait that long.
"As technology improves and evolves, the commission must do its best to ensure that the regulatory framework and enforcement approaches also adapt," she said at the event.
According to Congress Daily (subscription required)
The commission last reviewed the statute in 2005, when it called for no changes. The FTC is targeting a January start date for its examination, FTC staffers said, with the expectation of getting a wide range of perspectives over the course of about a year. Harbour said a key focus will be content offered on wireless devices, which have become increasingly popular among children.
The article notes that the FTC has faced pressure from internet privacy groups to address the issue, especially as we face controversial new online marketing tactics "including behavioral targeting, mobile advertising, and social media marketing." One coalition is pressuring the commission to ban behavioral targeting for minors.
Stay tuned in the coming days as we'll have additional coverage of this event.