Spring is here! And so many changes are in the air! The weather is beautiful, flowers are blooming, the days are lasting longer…and the The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (or COPPA to those more familiar) is getting a little more giddy up in its guidelines come July 1st!
This particular change is very important to us here at TRG. We love our toy clients and pride ourselves on designing programs that are COPPA (don’t worry, CARU, you too!) compliant. We love kids and want them to have as much fun as possible, but like Mom always said – rules are made for a reason!
As we all know, COPPA was enacted to protect the privacy of children and prevent websites from collecting personal information from kids, including name, location and date of birth, without a parent’s consent. The legislation is getting even more precise as to what that mean. Take a look at several highlights if you haven’t already:
- The definition of personal information is expanded to include geolocation information, photos, videos, audio files, and persistent identifiers such as IPl addresses and mobile device IDs
- New restrictions on tracking data, with cookies or a unique identifier that follow registrants from one site to another, will go into effect
- Facebook, Google, Tumblr and other similar sites will be forced to remove photos, audio recordings amd other personal identifiers of children
- The revised Rule takes effect July 1, 2013
Penalties for not complying with COPPA and CARU regulations are severe, and with technology playing such a key role in marketing, the design and fine print of programs aimed at children is ever more important.
