Introduction
The Children's Online
Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), passed by Congress in
October 1998, requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
to issue and enforce rules concerning children's online
privacy. The FTC issued the Children's Online Privacy
Protection Rule in November 1999; it has been in effect
since April 21, 2000.1 The Rule's primary goal: to place
parents in control over what information is collected from
their children online.
The Rule applies to:
-
Operators
of commercial websites or online services directed to
children under 13 that collect personal information from
children;
-
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.
The Rule requires
these operators to:
-
Post a privacy policy
on the homepage of the website and link to the privacy
policy everywhere personal information is collected.
-
Provide notice to
parents about the site's information collection
practices and, with some exceptions, get verifiable
parental consent before collecting personal information
from children.
-
Give parents the
choice to consent to the collection and use of a child's
personal information for internal use by the website,
and give them the chance to choose not to have that
personal information disclosed to third parties.
-
Provide parents with
access to their child's information, and the opportunity
to delete the information and opt out of the future
collection or use of the information.
-
Not condition a
child's participation in an activity on the disclosure
of more personal information than is reasonably
necessary for the activity.
-
Maintain the
confidentiality, security and integrity of the personal
information collected from children.
The FTC has prepared
this guide to help website operators comply with the Rule.
The guide explains each component of a COPPA-compliant
privacy policy, answers questions that website operators
have asked, and features a Compliance Checklist to help
website operators identify areas where their privacy
policies could be improved.
Click here to continue to the
Introduction to COPPA
Endnotes
1 16 C.F.R.
ÿ312.5. [TEXT]
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