Children's Privacy

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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…

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) has been on the books for years and is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). COPPA basically prohibits companies from collecting personal information from children under the age of 13 without parental consent. The FTC has an impressive record of enforcement actions under COPPA and compliance with…

Nintendo has shut down some NNID logins and has told Switch owners to lock down their accounts following a series of fraudulent attacks. Nintendo has confirmed that it suffered an attack by hackers who accessed some accounts and are using PayPal accounts linked to the accounts to purchase items fraudulently.

According to Nintendo, approximately 160,000…