The Federal Trade Commission is suggesting significant alterations to a long-standing law that governs the ways in which online companies can track and market to children. These changes include automatically disabling targeted advertisements for children under 13 and restricting push notifications.

The federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parents’ consent before collecting personal information of children under 13. COPPA was enacted in 1998, went into effect in 2000 and was last updated a decade ago.

FTC Chair Lina Khan stated that children should have the ability to engage in online play and learning without constantly being monitored by corporations who aim to collect and profit from their personal information. The suggested revisions to COPPA are necessary, particularly in a time where online resources are crucial for daily activities and companies are utilizing advanced digital methods to track children.

The announcement was met with applause from advocates for children’s online safety.

Katharina Kopp, the policy director at the nonprofit Center for Digital Democracy, stated that the commission’s proposal aims to restrict data usage related to children and prevent companies from exploiting their personal information. Additionally, these regulations will safeguard young individuals from being targeted through the growing implementation of artificial intelligence, which only fuels data collection efforts. It is crucial for children under 12 to have a digital environment that prioritizes their safety and contributes to their overall health and wellness.

The FTC is suggesting several alterations:

Apps, games and websites used by children would be required to obtain “separate, verifiable parental consent” to disclose information about kids under 13 to third-party advertisers, unless the disclosure is “integral” to the nature of the online service. And they won’t be able to deny access to the games and apps just because parents don’t agree to having their children’s information disclosed — which is possible today.

Operators are not allowed to utilize online contact information and “persistent identifiers,” such as cookies that monitor a child’s online activity, in order to send push notifications to children with the intention of persuading or motivating them to use their service more frequently.

The FTC is suggesting making its current instructions on the use of educational technology official in order to prevent the exploitation of children’s information. This proposed regulation would permit schools and school districts to allow educational technology companies to gather, utilize, and share students’ personal data, but solely for educational purposes authorized by the school and not for any commercial gain.

The suggested guidelines would limit companies to only keeping personal data for the duration necessary to fulfill the specific purpose for which it was obtained. Additionally, they would forbid operators from utilizing retained information for any other purpose and from holding onto it indefinitely. The Rule would also mandate that operators create a publicly available written policy for retaining children’s personal information.

Source: wral.com