Courtesy of our DLA Piper colleagues Jim Halpert, Sydney M. White, Kate Lucente, and Haris H. Khan is a summary of the FTC’s recent proposal for modifying the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule.  COPPA heavily regulates the collection, use and disclosure of personal information from online users who are known to be under 13 years old and from sites and online services targeted to this population.

Aspects of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking include:

  • expanding the range of information regulated by COPPA to include IP addresses, device identifier numbers, screen names and photos;
  • eliminating the easier “email plus” method of obtaining parental consent for internal uses of personal information, while allowing several other methods of parental consent;
  • adding a data destruction requirement to the COPPA Rule;
  • modifying the Rule’s notice requirements; and
  • adding verification requirements for COPPA safe harbor programs.

Comments on the Proposed Rulemaking are due November 28.  The full text with details regarding the proposed changes is available here.