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For Lawyers : COPPA Legal
Pitfalls...Lawyer to Lawyer.
If your client runs a website that is directed at
children either in whole or in part, you need to know or find an attorney who
knows the intricate details of the COPPA regulations. Among those details are
the comprehensive rules for the various types of notices required under the
statute, which cover everything from the content of those rules to the look and
placement of the link to the privacy policy displayed at the site, as well as
the technical requirements for obtaining “verifiable” parental consent.
If you are representing a commercial entity with a general interest website, you
need to debrief them on their collection practices. Even if COPPA doesn't apply
to the site, they may still run afoul of the FTC Act if their privacy policy
does not accurately and completely disclose what personal information they
collect from their users and what they do with that information.
If they collect personal information that includes a person's age or grade or
similar information, they may then have actual knowledge that they are
collecting personal information from a “child” and need to comply with the full
panoply of COPPA regulations. Even if they don't overtly request that
information, find out if they have monitored chat rooms or discussion boards at
which a user may disclose information from which the site should know they are
under 13, since that may provide the requisite knowledge under COPPA. If the
site collects any personally identifiable information from its users or provides
any means of public disclosure of such information (such as through an email
service, chat room, discussion boards or instant messenger service), and the
site is alerted that a particular user is a statutory “child,” then the site
must also comply with COPPA.
What if your client is simply an internet advertiser? Banner advertisers and
network advertising companies are covered by COPPA and its regulation if they
advertise at children's sites and collect personal information from children who
click through from such sites. They are also covered if they have ownership or
control over such information collected directly at the children's sites.
Advertisers at general audience sites may also be covered by COPPA is they
collect personal information from people who click through, and that information
discloses that the visitor is a child.
Many companies are collecting data from their website visitors without knowing
why they are collecting it or if they are using it properly. Unless companies
are under investigation or have heard of another company under investigation,
their legal departments rarely communicate with webmasters. With this tough new
law on the books, all commercial websites must be vigilant in ensuring that the
rights of parents to notice and consent are honored. If such companies ignore
parents' concerns regarding privacy and advertising, they will have to face
tough enforcement of government regulations aimed at U.S. advertisers' marketing
to children online, and the even tougher scrutiny of a disgruntled parent.
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Parry
Aftab, Esq., 
Marvel and
all character names and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of
Marvel Characters, Inc., and are used with permission. TM & © 2004 Marvel
Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. “Super Heroes” is a Co-owned registered
Trademark.