How to Protect Kids'
Privacy Online:
A Guide for
Teachers
For more information
vist the Kidz
Privacy website
Whether playing, shopping,
studying or just surfing, today's kids are taking advantage of all that the web has to
offer. But when it comes to their personal information, who's in charge? The Children's
Online Privacy Protection Act, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, requires
commercial website operators to get parental consent before collecting any personal
information from kids under 13. COPPA allows teachers to act on behalf of a parent during
school activities online, but does not require them to do so. That is, the law does not
require teachers to make decisions about the collection of their students' personal
information. Check to see whether your school district has a policy about disclosing
student information.
Here's a look at the basic provisions of the law and what they mean for you and your
students.
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Website Operators |
Teachers |
MUST get a parent's consent.
In many cases, a site must obtain parental consent before collecting, using or disclosing
personal information about a child. Consent is not required when a site is collecting an
email address to:
- respond to a one-time request from a child.
- provide notice to the parent.
- ensure the safety of the child or the site.
- send a newsletter or other information on a regular basis as long as the site notifies a
parent and gives them a chance to say no to the arrangement.
|
May act in place of a parent in deciding whether to
give consent.
Consent from a parent authorizes the website to collect personal information from your
student. Subject to your school district's policies, you
may act
on behalf of the parent in giving consent, but COPPA does not require you to do so.
If you or the parent do not consent to the collection, use or disclosure of the student's
personal information, the student's participation in an online activity may be limited to
areas of the site where personal information is not necessary.
You can give consent and
still say no to having your student's information passed along to a third party.
A parent or teacher's consent isn't necessary if the website is collecting a child's
email address simply to respond to a one-time request for information.
|
Must get new consent when information-collection
practices change in a "material" way.
Website operators need to notify parents and get consent again if they plan to change the
kinds of information they collect, change how they use the information, or offer the
information to new and different third parties. For example, new consent would be required
if the website decides to:
- send information from children to marketers of diet pills instead of only marketers of
stuffed animals, as covered in the original consent.
- give a child access to a chat room if the original consent covered only sending a
newsletter.
|
May decide whether to approve information collection
from students based on new uses for the information.
Website operators will let you know about the need for new consent by sending you a new
notice and request. They will do this when they are changing the terms-of-use of the
information in a "material" or significant way. |
Must allow parents to review personal information
collected from their children.
To do this, website operators must verify the identity of the requesting parent.
|
May ask to see the information students have
submitted.
The site will ask you to verify your identity to ensure that your student's information
isn't given out improperly. |
Must allow parents to revoke their consent, and
delete information collected from their children at the parents' request.
Parents can revoke their consent and ask that information about their child be deleted
from the site's database. When a parent revokes consent, the website must stop collecting,
using or disclosing information from that child. The site may end a child's participation
in an activity if the information it collected was necessary for participation in the
website's activity. |
Understand that you may revoke your consent at any
time and have your student's information deleted.
To stop a website from collecting additional information from your student, you can revoke
your consent. You also may ask a site to delete any personal information it has already
collected from your student. |
Many school districts are adopting Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) to
educate parents and students about Internet use and issues of online privacy and safety,
and seek parental consent for their children's use of the Internet. For example, an AUP
may tell parents about the privacy policies of online services with which a school has
contracts and students' use of non-contract websites. It may include cautions against
children disclosing personal information to websites - such as their full name, home or
email address, and telephone number. Or it may tell parents that the school has
established classroom email accounts rather than individual accounts if email
communication is necessary between students and online services.
The bottom line for teachers: Look around. Many websites do not require children to
provide any personal information to participate. Other sites limit their collection to
personal information that is necessary for the activity.
If you want more information about privacy online or if you suspect a violation of the
Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, contact the FTC, toll-free, at 1-877-FTC-HELP
(TDD: 1-866-653-4261); or online at www.ftc.gov/kidzprivacy.
The FTC works for the consumer to
prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the
marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and
avoid them. To file a
complaint or to get free information
on consumer issues, visit
www.ftc.gov or
call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The
FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud-related
complaints into
Consumer Sentinel, a
secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law
enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION |
FOR THE CONSUMER |
|
1-877-FTC-HELP |
www.ftc.gov |
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December 2000 |
