Keypoint: Last week, the FTC signaled an increased focus on COPPA enforcement, targeting education technology companies while California and federal lawmakers consider enacting new laws to regulate the processing of children’s data.

Over the past few months there has been a growing bipartisan consensus among lawmakers and regulators of the need for increased regulation around the processing of children’s data. In a sign of the significance of the issue, President Biden specifically addressed children’s data privacy in his State of the Union Address. As discussed below, recent actions by the Federal Trade Commission (the “Commission”) and lawmakers signal that companies processing children’s data should expect to see increased scrutiny.Continue Reading U.S. Children’s Privacy Law Update

Keypoint: Advertising platform settles with the FTC over allegations that it collected location data without consent and collected information from child-directed apps without notice or parental consent in violation of the FTC Act and COPPA.

Online advertising exchange platform, OpenX Technologies, Inc., has been ordered to pay $2 million of a $7.5 million judgment to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it misrepresented its data collection, use, and disclosure practices as it concerns personal information collected from children and location information collected from consumers who had not granted or had denied requisite location permissions.Continue Reading Behind the Scenes but Not Above the Law: Advertising Platform OpenX To Pay $2 Million FTC Settlement

Keypoint: Bill would expand COPPA to protect 13 to 15 year olds.

On May 11, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) and Bill Cassidy (R-La) introduced the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act. The legislation seeks to amend the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6505, to “strengthen protections relating to the online collection, use, and disclosure of personal information of children and minors.”Continue Reading Senators Propose Bipartisan Bill to Amend COPPA

Keypoint: Bill would add right to deletion to COPPA.

Senators introduced the “Clean Slate for Kids Online Act of 2021” in the United States Senate last week. The bill seeks to amend the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).

The bill provides individuals with the right to delete personal information the operator collected from the individual as a child. The right to delete applies even in instances where parental consent was provided for the collection of the personal information.Continue Reading Senators Reintroduce Bill to Amend COPPA