Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a U.S. federal law that strictly regulates the collection of personal information by online services to protect the privacy of children under the age of 13.
- Est. 1988
- difficult to comply due to the difficulty of determining age of users
- applies inside and outside the US
Requirements
- restricting organizations from collecting PII from minors under 13
- requiring organizations to post a privacy policy online
- make reasonable efforts to obtain parental consent
- notify parents that information is being collected
How companies deal with this:
- Many companies choose to charge a small fee for accounts belonging to minors as a way of verifying parental consent
- others refuse service to minors entirely