Children's Privacy

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Ireland’s Data Privacy Commissioner will reportedly fine Instagram for its handling of children’s data. According to an investigation that began in 2020, Instagram published emails and phone numbers for children ages 13 to 17 who operated business accounts. Business accounts typically post this information by default. Meta, Instagram’s parent, plans to appeal the €405 million…

Provider groups and privacy advocates have joined together to put pressure on Congress to pass two bipartisan bills designed to bolster children and teens’ privacy.

The Kids Online Safety Act (S. 3663) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (S. 1628) were both passed out of the Senate subcommittee with bipartisan support. That’s…

On May 19, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) adopted the “Policy Statement on Education Technology and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act” (COPPA), which calls for increased scrutiny for violations of COPPA by education technology companies. The FTC said in its statement:

The [FTC] is committed to ensuring that education technology (“ed tech”) tools…

As a former Assistant Attorney General, I have a soft place in my heart for Attorneys General as consumer protection advocates. Most state AGs have the primary jurisdiction to enforce compliance with consumer protection laws in their states. Some are more aggressive than others, such as New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, who recently sued…

Mandiant, a division of FireEye, has reported that it has discovered a vulnerability in a software protocol that enables hackers to gain access to audio and visual data on smart devices including baby monitors and web cameras. The protocol was created  by Taiwanese Internet of Things vendor ThroughTek, and is incorporated in as many as…

In an unusual but significant move, on August 4, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) removed Aristotle International from the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Safe Harbor List. There were 7 organizations on the list, which were approved by the FTC to self-regulate themselves under COPPA, but with this first removal by the FTC,…

On September 2, 2020, Age of Learning, Inc. (operating as ABCmouse), a children’s online educational company, settled with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for $10 million for its alleged misrepresentations and failure to disclose important information to consumers.

The FTC’s complaint alleged that ABCmouse unfairly billed users without their authorization and also made it very…

I have never been a fan of TikTok [view related post]. In general, I do not trust any Chinese technology companies because of the influence and requirements the Chinese government wields over them. The Chinese government has been stealing U.S.-based companies’ intellectual property for decades, has required U.S.-based companies to provide computer code in…