- A bipartisan coalition of 43 AGs submitted comments on the FTC’s proposed amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule) supporting restrictions on the use of children’s personal information (PI) and further limiting the ability of companies to monetize children’s data.
- In the letter, the AGs expressed their support of several proposed amendments, including a requirement that website and online service operators obtain separate verifiable parental consent to disclose children’s PI to third parties; clarification that there is an outright ban on collecting more PI than is reasonably necessary for a child’s participation in an online activity; and a prohibition on operators from using information collected to send push notifications to children to encourage use of their services.
- They further support redefining PI to include, among other things, biometric identifiers (such as fingerprints, retina and iris patterns, and data derived from voice or facial data), an avatar generated on the child’s image and likeness, and other government-issued identifiers beyond social security numbers. The AGs urge the FTC to update the COPPA Rule, noting that the digital landscape has changed dramatically since the rule was last updated over ten years ago.
- We have previously reported on FTC’s proposed amendments to the COPPA Rule, which can be found here.