Children's
Privacy: The Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act
The primary goal of the
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act
(COPPA) Rule is to
give
parents control over what information is collected from their
children online and how such information may
be used.
The Rule applies to:
-
Operators of commercial Web
sites and online services directed
to children under 13 that collect personal information from
them;
-
Operators of general audience sites that knowingly collect
personal information from children under 13; and
-
Operators of general audience sites that have a separate
children’s area and that collect personal information from
children under 13.
The Rule requires operators to:
-
Post a privacy policy on the homepage of the
Web site and link
to the privacy policy on every page where personal information
is collected.
-
Provide notice about the site’s information collection
practices to parents and obtain verifiable parental consent
before collecting personal information from children.
-
Give parents a choice as to whether their child’s personal
information will be disclosed to third parties.
-
Provide parents access to their child’s personal information
and the opportunity to delete the child’s personal information and
opt-out of future collection or use of the information.
-
Not condition a child’s participation in a game, contest or
other activity on the child’s disclosing more personal
information than is reasonably necessary to participate in that
activity.
-
Maintain the confidentiality, security and integrity of
personal information collected from children.
In order to encourage active industry self-regulation, COPPA
also includes a safe harbor
provision allowing industry groups and others to request
Commission approval of self-regulatory guidelines to govern
participating Web
sites’ compliance with the Rule.
Learn more about the COPPA Rule in
our Laws & Rules and Enforcement
sections. Educating consumers and
businesses about the importance of children's privacy is also a
central part of the Commission’s mission --
look at our Education & Guidance section to see our publications. Additional
information about the Commission's efforts on children's privacy
can be found by looking through our Reports & Testimony and our
Press Room.
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