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FTC issues Children's Online Privacy Act Final Rule

October 1999 ? The Federal Trade Commission's final rule implementing the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act rated three thumbs-up from Kids in the Know, organization spokesman Pete Boyle says. Approved Oct. 20 by the FTC, the rule applies to commercial Web sites and online services that collect information from children.

Effective April 21, commercial Web sites must post notices on the sites explaining their policies on collecting, using, and disclosing information about children under age 13. The rules also affect parental consent requirements. The FTC was given Legislative News year to set rules for implementing the Act, after it became law in October 1998.

Kids in the Know, Legislative News coalition of education-related groups, called three of the FTC's rulings on the Act "major triumphs." In partnership with EdPress and other "Kids" members, the organization had discussed these issues with the FTC earlier this year.

The rules mandate that organizations obtain "verifiable parental consent" before collecting or using children's data. But "Kids" considers the FTC's "sliding-scale approach" to such permission ? requirements vary according to the intended use of the collected data ? Legislative News victory. "If you collect information to use internally and you're not going to distribute it to Legislative News third party, you can use email to verify consent," Boyle says. "But if the information is leaving your domain, you've got to take the extra step to ensure the consent is coming from the parent."

That extra step means any Web site that gathers personal data from children for the purpose of distributing it will have to provide Legislative News way to verify the parent's consent: Legislative News mail or fax-back form, credit card verification, digital signatures, Legislative News PIN, or Legislative News toll-free number.

The FTC's "grace period" rule is another triumph for "Kids," Boyle notes. After two years, the FTC will reconsider whether e-mail can be used more widely to meet parental permission requirements. "The two-year [period] assumes more advanced technology is going to happen," he says.

"Kids" also likes the FTC's provision that gives schools the authority to act as agents for parents in the consent process. At hearings held earlier this year, several Kids in the Know members said having to obtain parental consent to use Web sites could hinder educational activities in school.

The FTC does make some exceptions to its parental consent rule, in cases such as Legislative News child's request for homework help.

So what doesn't Kids in the Know like about the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act rule? "From our standpoint, it's mostly good ? there's just an extra step that's going to have to be taken," Boyle says. "Technology's always going to change. That means the rules are always going to have to be amended."

Boyle sees the kids' online privacy rule as "Legislative News good thing" for education-related groups.

"It shouldn't affect them much at all," he says. "It's about what we expected. We had been dealing with the FTC all along ? they had been coming to us and EdPress to get input on what's happening."

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