The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) is a law that protects children's personal information. It was created to protect children from websites that try to collect information about them.
The law requires that websites and other services that may collect information about children under 13 years of age get permission from their parents first.
The law also requires that the websites and services tell parents how they collect and use that information.
The law applies to all websites and other services that collect information from children under 13 years of age, no matter were.
COPPA's Goals
The Rule was made to protect children and teens when they're online. It was made to stop websites and apps from collecting your information and tracking you on the internet. Your parents have to agree to this and say it's okay for you to be tracked.
How Has COPPA Changed Since It Was First Enacted?
In 2011, the Federal Trade Commission added new rules to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The new rules said that developers must delete children's personal information every time they achieve their original purpose for collecting that information.
They also said that developers must ensure that the information they collect about children cannot be used for anything other than the original purpose.
For example, if you collect a child's age to provide age-appropriate content, you must delete that information when the purpose is served.
Is COPPA Affecting You?
The Rule applies to anyone who runs a website or online service directed at children and collects, uses, or discloses personally identifiable details from children.
The Rule also applies to general websites and online services that collect information from anyone less than 13 years of age.
If a child is under 13 years old and you collect, use, or disclose personally identifiable details from that child, you must remove those details as soon as you find out the child is under 13 years old.
How Does COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection) Work
COPPA is a law that protects children's privacy. It applies to any business globally that collects information from children under 13 who live in the United States. The law applies to many different information and services, so it's important to know exactly how it applies.
Requirements For Business Owners And Operators Of Websites
The FTC looks at many things when it decides if a business targets children. One of the things it thinks about is:
Advertisement models' ages
Provide audio and visual content geared towards young children
Using animated or cartoon characters
Using celebrities or child celebrities who are popular with children
Whether that age group will be drawn to the business' subject matter
If your website is for kids under 13 or you have a website that kids under 13 might use, you need to follow the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act rules.
How does Verifiable Parental Consent work?
To collect information from children, you need to have the permission of their parent or guardian. You can get permission by asking the parent or guardian to fill out a form.
You can use the form to ask the parent or guardian if they permit you to collect the information. Below are acceptable methods for obtaining dependable adult's consent and authenticating their identity:
Form of consent signed by the participant
Identification with a photograph
Making a phone call
The questions should be difficult for anyone but the parent to answer
Video conferencing
A credit or debit card is required when a monetary transaction is conducted.
If you want to collect personal information from parents, you can send them an email and ask for permission. It will help if you put a means for the parent to reply to you in the email. You should put a footnote and link to your privacy policy at the bottom.
If My Website Or Application Does Not Comply With This Rule, What Should I Do?
First, before you become compliant with COPPA regulations, you must stop collecting or processing children's information until you have their parent's permission or are deemed compliant by the FTC.
Second, read your information practices and privacy policy carefully. In doing so, look closely at what you collect, what you do with it, and if it's necessary for your site or online service.
If not, make sure parents know exactly how their children's information is being used and whether there are alternatives to deleting such data altogether.
This way, parents will truly know what to expect when they sign up or log in to their children using your site or online service.
For COPPA violations, what are the civil and criminal remedies?
If a company violates the COPPA guidelines, it can be fined up to $40,654 per incident. We encourage users to report possible violations of the law and make sure that you protect their data from them. In the past, the maximum penalty was $16,000 per violation, but in 2016, that fine was increased to $40,654.
Therefore, if you have info on minors, like 10 kids on your site and they're underage, then you need to make sure that you've followed COPPA guidelines which are stricter than FTC regulations regarding customers of any age because children under the age of 12 can't make purchases online at all.
The fines range from $4 million to 8 million, depending on how many were offended. In most cases, the severity of a business's violation depends on how much it profited from it.
Conclusion
Online privacy is an important matter, especially when it comes to children. COPPA sets forth rules regulating how information can be collected on children under 13 and limiting what advertisers are allowed to do with that information.
It also prevents vendors and website operators from collecting data by legal loopholes (i.e., hacking or cookie dropping). Vendors must make their privacy policies accessible via easy-to-understand language online before starting any collection efforts.