CARU: Marvelkids.com No Longer In Privacy Self-Reg Program

Marvel Entertainment appears to have withdrawn its Marvelkids.com site from the Better Business Bureau's self-regulatory safe harbor seal of approval program.

The Center for Digital Democracy filed a complaint against the site, Marvel, and parent Disney, alleging it was not in compliance with the FTC's new Children's Online Privacy Protection Act implementation rules. It included in that complaint that the site was sporting a BBB Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) logo signaling it complied with self-regulatory guidelines, when, according to CDD, it was not. "It appears that CARU is not ensuring that its members are adhering to the safe harbor requirements," CDD said in the complaint. "Marvelkids.com displays the CARU Kid’s Privacy Safe Harbor icon. This icon links to the CARU website, which confirms that “the information practices of Marvel Entertainment Inc. have been reviewed and meet the standards of [CARU’s] Kids’s Privacy Safe Harbor Program." "Marvelkids.com has not revised its data collection practices to comply with the revised COPPA Rule, and does not provide the same or greater protections against collection of children’s information than the COPPA Rule," said CDD. "The fact that Marvelkids.com nonetheless displays the CARU icon is misleading to parents and raises questions about the effectiveness of the CARU self-regulatory process." CARU begged to differ.