Unintended Consequences of FTC's New COPPA Children's Online Privacy Rules

[Commentary] The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a revised set of proposed rules (PDF) regarding the implementation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). As I understand it, these rules apply to information that is being collected for the purposes of advertising or marketing -- not information necessary to maintain a network or offer a service. And it's only for sites that are specifically aimed at children (or aimed at both children and adults) but not sites that don't allow children.

Facebook, for example, requires users to state their date of birth and does not allow users who's stated birth date indicates that they're under 13. Of course, it's possible to lie about one's age, which is why Consumer Reports estimates that 5.6 million of Facebook's users are under 13. There have been stories in the news that Facebook may open its membership to kids under 13, but the company has not confirmed its intention to do that and, as of now, remains available only to people 13 and older. It's unclear whether these rules would apply to Facebook apps and plug-ins, including those that put Facebook's "Like" button on sites. Notwithstanding that some kids lie about their age, any site that requires a user to sign-in via Facebook is certifying that that person claims to be 13 or older based on Facebook's terms of service.