Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) is a United States federal law, located at 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501–6506 (Pub.L. 105-277, 112 Stat. 2581-728, enacted October 21, 1998).

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. While children under 13 can legally give out personal information with their parents' permission, many websites altogether disallow underage children from using their services due to the amount of paperwork involved.

Read more about Children's Online Privacy Protection Act:  Background, Violations, Compliance, International Scope, Criticisms

Famous quotes containing the words children, privacy, protection and/or act:

    You must not feel too anxious about the little folks with you.... Their little peculiarities, which with your older judgment do not seem favorable, will gradually disappear as they get older. It is best to overlook most things, and not be too solicitous about perfection. I am afraid you will think I will spoil our children by too little government. Perhaps we do err on the other side, but you must come down and instruct us.
    Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)

    Any moral philosophy is exceedingly rare. This of Menu addresses our privacy more than most. It is a more private and familiar, and at the same time, a more public and universal word, than is spoken in parlor or pulpit nowadays.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    No: until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is endangered, or until I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise, I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, and her right to my property and life. It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than it would to obey. I should feel as if I were worth less in that case.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.
    M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)