Technology trade groups and advocacy firms objected in separate filings this...
Technology trade groups and advocacy firms objected in separate filings this week to the FTC’s proposed changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rule. The commission has been working for at least a year to update the COPPA…
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rule and impose new requirements on website operators with the aim of protecting children from online threats. Among its proposed changes, the FTC sought to expand its governance of personal information, online services and parental notification requirements relating to children under the age of 13. Monday was the FTC’s deadline to submit comments on the agency’s supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking. By our deadline, the FTC had posted more than 50 filings on its website (http://xrl.us/bnrihi). The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) said in its filing its member companies had “significant” concerns that the FTC is creating a “burdensome regulatory framework that goes well beyond congressional intent.” The group said the commission’s COPPA proposals represent an “overly broad and unworkable regulatory framework” that would create “harmful barriers” to American innovation. SIIA objected to the FTC’s proposal to expand the COPPA definitions of “personal information,” website “operators,” and “website or online service dedicated to children,” among other concerns. TechFreedom also objected to the FTC’s proposed revisions and argued in a separate filing that the commission’s proposal might actually drive up prices, reduce the quality and quantity of online content for children and decrease competition. In its comments (http://xrl.us/bnrigq), TechFreedom warned against replacing the current “email plus” method of parental consent and the unintended consequences of expanding the definition of “personal information” to include persistent identifiers. TechFreedom did commend the agency for its proposal to replace COPPA’s current “100 percent deletion” requirement for information with a “reasonable measures” standard. TechFreedom President Berin Szoka, who signed the group’s filing, said the proposal could “go a long way to minimizing the burden of COPPA on the expression of children and interactivity of child-directed sites, by allowing sharing without the burden of obtaining verifiable parental consent.”