Leveraging Knowledge to Manage Your Data Risks
On November 21, 2025, in a lengthy decision, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Mark A. Kearney quashed a subpoena issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania’s Gender and Sexuality Development Program (CHOP) seeking documents:
(1) identifying the names, addresses, and social security numbers of…
I served on the Board, and am a big fan of Foster Forward, an amazing organization located in Rhode Island that provides services to foster children and youth and supports the child welfare system as a whole. During my many years of service on the Board, I learned about the challenges of foster children…
Disney has agreed to pay $10 million and change how it labels children’s videos on YouTube to settle claims by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the company violated federal children’s privacy laws.
The settlement resolves allegations that Disney subsidiaries Disney Worldwide Services Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC failed to properly flag some of…
On September 3, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against Apitor Technology, which makes robotic toys, alleging that Apitor’s app “enabled a third party in China to collect geolocation information from children without parental consent.”
The DOJ filed suit following a referral from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that Apitor did not comply…
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) of 2023 is circulating Congress with bipartisan support. According to bill sponsors Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), KOSA would require social media companies to develop enhanced parental controls for online platforms.
Additionally, and much more controversially, KOSA creates a duty for online platforms to prevent and…
Epic Games $520 Million Settlement with FTC for Unfair Practices and COPPA Violations
In a recent agreement totaling $520 million, Epic Games, Inc. (Epic), maker of the popular Fortnite video game, settled allegations posed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The FTC’s complaint alleged that…
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…
It’s back-to-school time and every parent I know of school-aged children is scouring lists provided by schools to purchase items for their kids’ first day.
It is easy and convenient to purchase these items online, but online shopping poses greater risks of fraud than shopping in retail stores.
Because of that, the Federal Trade Commission…
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…
