Santa Claus is a hammer-wielding Christmas fiend in a political...

explanation of IAB’s beef with the agency titled “Don’t Let the FTC Steal Christmas” (http://xrl.us/bn6iwt), shows “Santa Coppa” sitting in a chair marked “FTC,” holding a hammer ("new regs") that he’s about to slam through a tablet computer ("mobile apps"). Children waiting in line to see Santa -- “education games research apps” -- nervously hold their own tablets while an elf passes out safety goggles. Children who have already sat on Santa’s lap look bewildered at their smashed tablets. IAB “recognizes that a lot has changed in the 14 years” since COPPA’s passage, “but we must embrace innovation and the benefits they have brought to families,” said IAB General Counsel Mike Zaneis in the explanation accompanying the cartoon. The FTC’s proposed COPPA regulation revisions would “conflate benign data transfers, which present no discernible threat to children’s online safety, with very real concerns about the unauthorized collection of information that might allow strangers to contact our children,” he said. The FTC shouldn’t “undermine legitimate commercial practices that have revolutionized the way kids learn and play in the digital age.” An IAB spokeswoman told us the cartoon was illustrated by R.J. Matson, who has worked for The New Yorker and The New York Observer among other outlets. The FTC didn’t immediately comment.