The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA)^[1] is a United States federal law, forming Chapter 15, Section 6501, of the United States Code.

The act, effective April 21, 2000, applies to the online collection of personal information by persons or entities under U.S. jurisdiction from children under 13 years of age. It details what a website operator must include in a privacy policy, when and how to seek verifiable consent from a parent or guardian, and what responsibilities an operator has to protect children's privacy and safety online including restrictions on the marketing to those under 13. Similar laws exist in other countries.

Ostensibly because of the cost incurred in complying with the regulation, one of COPPA's largest impacts was to cause a number of websites that catered to children to shut down entirely even though the required website structure to comply with COPPA is relatively light. A number of other general-audience websites stopped offering services to children at all. There has been little actual legal action taken against website operators for COPPA violations since 2001.

Criticisms

The law is criticized for severely restricting children's website activity in practice. Others say that it is not enforceable at all, as children can very easily claim they are 13 or older. A few, youth rights groups in particular, claim that it is unconstitutional. Most attempts to convince politicians of this has ended with no reply at all.

Notes

1. ^ COPPA is sometimes confused with COPA, the Child Online Protection Act, which concerns the exposure of children to online pornography and which was declared unconstitutional and remains under injunction.

External links

• Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998
• Kidz Privacy Site

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