Thursday, October 21, 1999
New rules to protect kids on Internet
Will limit collection of personal info
BY TED BRIDIS
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The government laid out new rules Wednesday to protect kids' privacy on the Internet, allowing companies to send e-mail to parents seeking permission to ask children questions — but only if the information is not shared with other companies.
The rules are designed to tell companies how to comply with a new federal privacy law that bans them from collecting personal information from children without a parent's permission.
One of the most contentious provisions involved a compromise allowing businesses for the next two years to send e-mail to parents.
The new rules from the Federal Trade Commission, approved 4-0, are expected to have a dramatic impact on hundreds of popular Internet sites aimed at children, which typically offer online games and entertainment in exchange for personal information valuable to marketers.
Catherine Benjamin, a mother of two young children in Rolling Meadows, Ill., called the law “long overdue” and bristled at how easily children online can be persuaded to disclose even the most personal details.
“It scares us,” said Mrs. Benjamin, who recently warned her 12-year-old niece about these risks. “Children just give out information on the Internet. There's a lot of wonderful opportunities on the Internet ... (but) it can become a dangerous tool.”
The FTC will begin enforcing the new rules in April.
“There's a real problem out there,” said FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky. “We're going to give the industry six months to get its act together to make changes. After that, we'll monitor these Web sites and we'll take enforcement action.”
The FTC said Web sites that share children's information with other companies must obtain a parent's permission through mailed or faxed paperwork, calls to a toll-free number, through use of a credit-card number or via e-mail using nascent digital signature technology.
The provision over a parent's consent was among the most controversial. E-mail is the most convenient and immediate method for granting permission, but it's also simple to impersonate another person online — especially for kids who often know more about technology than their parents.
The new law, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, requires commercial Web sites generally to obtain consent from parents before asking children under 13 for their names, addresses, telephone numbers or other identifying information.
“The FTC did a good, balanced job,” said Ron Plesser, an attorney who worked with the Direct Marketing Association and other industry groups.
The new law does not require companies to obtain a parent's permission to send a child information on a one-time basis, such as a digital coupon.
The privacy law, enacted in October 1998, was prompted by an FTC study last year of 1,400 Web sites, including one where children were asked to give their names, addresses, e-mail addresses and ages and say whether they ever received gifts of stocks, cash, savings bonds or certificates of deposit.
• More coverage on Internet privacy from Associated Press
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