Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, said they plan to...

Track Kids privacy bill. The bill requires online companies “to obtain parental consent for collection of children’s personal information” and it prohibits companies from using personal information of children and teens for targeted marketing purposes, they said. Websites or mobile apps directed at children must provide clearly “the types of personal information the operator collects [and] how the operator uses such information” and they must “obtain verifiable parental consent for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information of a child,” the draft said. Another provision gives rights to individuals, the draft said. Users have the right to obtain “reasons for any denial of a request” and to challenge the accuracy of personal information, it said. If the individual establishes that their personal information is inaccurate, the person has the right “to have the information erased, corrected, completed, or otherwise amended,” the draft said. There are “practical and principled reasons to be concerned about the aim of the Markey-Barton plan,” said Adam Thierer, senior research fellow at George Mason University. It’s hard to imagine how a “Do Not Track Kids” regime would work “without requiring mandatory online age verification of all websurfers,” he said in a statement. Previous efforts to age-verify surfers have raised privacy and First Amendment concerns, he said. “It’s also unclear how to enforce an Internet ‘Eraser Button’ without seriously burdening online speech and commerce."