This past July, the Federal Trade Commission revised the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule to address the changes in the way students use the Internet, including the increased use of mobile devices and social networking. Key updates include:
■ Modifying the list of personal information that cannot be collected without parental notice and consent, adding geolocation information, photographs, and videos to this list.
■ Closing a loophole that allowed kid-directed apps and Web sites to permit third parties to collect personal information from children through plug-ins without parental notice and consent.
■ Requiring that covered Web site operators adopt reasonable procedures for data retention and deletion.
■ Strengthening the FTC’s oversight of self-regulatory safe harbor programs.
■ Changing the definition of collection of personal information so that operators may allow children to participate in interactive communities without parental consent, as long as the operators take reasonable measures to delete children’s personal information before it is made public.
Read more at www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/07/coppa.shtm
