What's Really Going On With COPPA?!

 from vague guidelines to extreme fines  Coppa is a hot topic that has website  owners and content creators scrambling  for answers today we discuss what's  really going on with this FTC law number  10 what is Coppa the Children's Online  Privacy Protection Act that was  established in October 1998 is a  nationwide regulation in the United  States and although it's been over 20  years since Coppa was put in place it's  gaining a lot more attention recently  than it has in the past two decades you  may never have heard of this act before  but it applies to all online  applications devices websites etc that  collect personal information especially  those directed toward children  classified as ages 12 and under in the  guidelines although the rule is only  active in the United States it applies  to all us-based sites that appeal to  kids even if those kids live outside the  country this Act describes in detail  what site operators YouTube creators and  anyone that falls under Coppa is  required to include in their privacy  policies plus it explains how they can  gain verifiable consent from parents and  guardians and what their  responsibilities are regarding the  protection of a child's privacy and  online safety if it sounds complicated  that's because it is number-9 directed  toward children if you're a YouTube  creator website owner application  creator so on and so forth  then chances are you fall under the  broad umbrella of Coppa regulations so  how do you determine if your content is  directed at children the truth is it  doesn't matter whether or not you think  your site is directed toward kids but  rather if it could possibly in one way  or another attract children surfers  chosen by the Federal Trade Commission  or FTC complete surveys to determine if  sites applications vlogs etc are pointed  at kids 12 and under and several things  can result in a yes does the site use  childhood sling like duh games fun  whatever cool and more does it contain  vibrant colors faster bold graphics  animation or use a host character are  the ads on the site selling products  aimed at kids like cereal toys or games  does the audio contain cartoonish voices  popular music or childlike sounds if the  answer to any of these questions is yes  when the site in question could be  considered as directed toward kids  number eight history of Coppa so how did  this incredibly extensive law develop  during the 1990s selling buying and  advertising things online began gaining  popularity since people were doing more  on the Internet they became concerned  about websites collecting their personal  data the concern was more so for  children under 13 years old in the  majority of websites had no privacy  policies whatsoever as the public's  worries increased the FTC was urged to  investigate the collection and use of  personal data from the website kids  com.com  what they found confirmed people's  concerns and eventually led to the  establishment of Coppa since then  adjustments have been made to the rules  and as of 2011 what defines data  collection from children has been  greatly expanded the modified rules  required that data should be deleted  after achieving its purpose and that the  information given to third parties would  be protected via reasonable procedures  in 2013 changes were made to Coppa again  that further revised the consent  requirements and parental notifications  as well as expanded on what a child  directed site or service includes number  seven group complaints to FTC just  because Coppa has been in place for over  twenty years doesn't mean that websites  have been following its guidelines  recently numerous groups decided they  had enough of the illegal acquisition  and use of children's information which  breaks the Children's Online Privacy  Protection Act YouTube is a huge concern  for these groups which include consumer  groups  privacy groups and child advocacy  organizations and the FTC was petitioned  once more to investigate because  YouTube's Terms  claim that it is directed at viewers 13  years of age and older it's been  bypassing the child privacy laws for  years the complaints however alleged  these terms aren't necessarily true from  nursery rhymes and cartoons to toy ads  and unboxing articles it's clear that all  at YouTube channels don't appeal  exclusively to adults and teens  despite the site's counter-argument that  they created YouTube kids for this  reason it doesn't negate that numerous  articles on the main website are directed  at children all of these concerns and  complaints are magnified by recent  events as well such as the Facebook  camera JH analytical data scandal that  saw the personal information of millions  of people taken and used for  unauthorized political advertising  number six FTC workshop on October 7th  2019 the FTC held a workshop concerning  the Children's Online Privacy Protection  Act technology and privacy stakeholders  were brought together to discuss  potential updates to the Act especially  those regarding new services and  technology like sites that whose content  from third parties or devices requiring  voice activation over 30 child directed  content creators application developers  members of Coppa Safe Harbor and privacy  advocates participated in presentations  and panels that focused on improvements  the FTC could implement to provide top  tier protection for children without  suppressing the modernization of  technology some of the things discussed  during the workshop included expanding  Coppa to encompass teenagers its  enforcement concerning data security  improving the methods of obtaining  parental consent the monetization of  children's data the actual knowledge  standard among many other topics  considering the vast scope of Copas  existing regulations talking about  growing them further is frightening too  many website and online service  operators and content creators for  instance the actual knowledge standard  states that Coppa applies to sites whose  operators have actual knowledge that  their service is collecting information  of kids under the age of 13 since this  has been too lenient in some cases in  therefore it taken advantage of the FTC  was urged by speakers during the  conference to hold the site managers  responsible when they deliberately  overlooked the age  of their audience number five rule  breakers remember in kindergarten when  one kid acted up in class and everyone  had to stay inside for recess the  punishment of many for the misdeeds of a  few is an ongoing pattern throughout the  world and the Internet is no exception  we already know why Coppa was put in  place to begin with the unauthorized  collection use of children's data but  why does it continue to be expanded on  several website managers have violated  the regulations and now the laws are  being revised and enforced more  efficiently in 2004 UMG recordings  incorporated was served a hefty four  hundred thousand dollar fine for  promoting then thirteen-year-old lil  romeo and offering activities and games  directed toward children on a website  they were connected to two years later  xanga had to pay 1 million dollars  because they continually allowed kids  under 13 to sign up without parental  consent other violators include ponzi  software in Moby Kid swirl and skiddy  Kids a whopping 5.7 million dollar fine  was given to bite dance in February 2009  teen because they're widely used tik-tok  application violated Coppa rules as well  but there's a good reason many of these  regulations are in place three wild ik  dating applications were removed from  Google and Apple app stores when the FTC  determined that children under 13 were  allowed to register they further  discovered that while dick had knowledge  of their underage users which gave way  to inappropriate association with minors  number four pricey fine it seems that as  more web sites violate Coppa the fines  continue getting larger one of the  biggest platforms on the planet for  entertainment knowledge creativity and  expression is YouTube which is a  subsidiary of Google LLC but even  internet giants like Google and YouTube  must abide by the laws or face the  consequences the article driven website  was given the largest fine to date by  the FTC 170 million dollars it was  determined in September 2019 that  YouTube was in violation of Coppa in the  fine was only a portion of their  settlement how did the site break the  rules the New York Attorney General and  the FTC  claimed that YouTube was collecting  personal information of the audiences  reading channels aimed at children via  the identifiers known as cookies they  alleged that the information was  gathered without parental consent and  used to deliver targeted ads to viewers  of these channels according to the FTC  website Joe Symons FTC Chairman noted  that YouTube bragged about its  popularity with kids to potential  clients but would not acknowledge that  numerous channels were directed at  children concerning Copas rules most  people know that creators on the  platform are given the option to  monetize their articles by allowing  YouTube to display advertisements doing  this creates revenue for YouTube and the  channel owners but the primary issue is  the collection of data from children  despite YouTube's claim as a general  audience website in addition to the fine  YouTube and Google must establish and  maintain a system that allows creators  to identify whether or not their  channels are directed at children  furthermore YouTube must ensure that the  channels are in compliance with Coppa  inform the creators that the content  aimed at kids could be subject to Copas  rules and provide yearly training about  abiding by Coppa to their employees who  deal directly with channel owners number  3 effects on creators the big question  is how will this affect creators channel  owners are having a difficult time  determining what is and isn't child  directed content since the rules  encompass a wide and somewhat vague  spectrum when it comes to labeling a  site or service as aimed at children as  we previously mentioned using slang  words like whatever or cool animation or  bright colors could all define a channel  as kid oriented this makes things hard  for creators because they are being held  responsible by the FTC for their content  as of January 2020 they will be tasked  with clearly labeling articles as child  oriented if they are in articles that  aren't marked as such could result in  the owners being substantially fined up  to 42,000 dollars per article for obvious  reasons this portion of the settlement  has received a lot of criticism YouTube  has refused to tell creators when to  label their articles as child oriented and  suggested consulting lawyers for assist  with determining if their content  appeals to children making channel  owners exclusively responsible for  complying with Coppa number two Coppa  criticisms unsurprisingly this act has  been the subject of criticism since it  was established legal experts in mass  media have even claimed it to be  unconstitutional and ineffective in 2012  an Internet safety technical task force  made up of experts from commercial  organizations and academic groups found  that required age verification isn't a  good solution for privacy and might even  violate privacy in itself it has also  been argued that Coppa doesn't protect  children from exploitative  advertisements or stop them from lying  about their age plus the monetary  penalties Coppa can dish out $40,000 per  violation could easily terminate small  businesses number one complying with  Coppa so how can YouTube creators abide  by Copas ever-growing list of  regulations and avoid considerable fines  for accidentally mislabelling their  articles it seems that it can only be done  through extensive consideration of their  content and thorough research of the  FTC's expectations concerning Coppa  channel owners will now need to  determine if several things are directed  toward kids visual content subject  matter animation music type age of  models presence of celebrities that  appeal to children language advertising  directed toward kids and evidence of the  audience's age group several examples  are given on the FTC website to help  creators decide whether or not they need  to label their articles or which articles  they need to classify as directed toward  children an example they give is if your  articles are about traditionally adult  activities like employment finances  politics home ownership home improvement  or travel then you're most likely not  covered by Coppa they also state on  their site that simply because your  article contains vibrant colours or  animations doesn't mean you're  automatically covered by Coppa the FTC  assures creators that they recognize  there can be animated programming that  appeals to everyone nevertheless channel  owners are responsible for determining  if their content is directed toward kids  what do you think about Copa do you  agree or disagree with any of their  rules or have ideas about how the law  could be improved let us know in the  comments below and as always thanks for  reading