COPPA: Why Your Parent Must Say Yes Online
COPPA is a law that protects kids under 13 online by making websites ask your parent's permission before collecting your information.
# COPPA: Why Your Parent Must Say Yes Online
What Is COPPA?
COPPA is a United States federal law with a big job: protecting kids like you online. The letters stand for "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act." Think of it as a rule book that keeps websites honest about how they use information from kids under 13.
The law became effective April 21, 2000, and applies to the online collection of personal information about children under 13 years of age. That means if you're using a website, app, or game that collects your information, COPPA is working to protect you.
Why Do Websites Need Your Parent's Permission?
COPPA gives parents control over what information websites can collect from their kids. Your parent is responsible for keeping you safe online, so the law says websites must ask them first.
Congress decided to protect children under 13 because younger children are particularly vulnerable to overreaching by marketers and may not understand the safety and privacy issues created by the online collection of personal information. In other words, grown-ups realized kids might not know what information is safe to share.
What Information Does COPPA Protect?
COPPA protects lots of personal information about you. This includes children's names, nicknames, email addresses, telephone numbers, home addresses, photos, video, and audio files of the child. Even things like your location information and usernames are protected.
How Does the Permission Process Work?
Verifiable parental consent must be obtained before collecting personal information online from children under 13, and the method used must be "reasonably calculated" to ensure the consent is actually being granted by the parent.
This means websites can't just accept a "yes" from you—they need real proof that your parent said okay. The COPPA Rule does not mandate the method a company must use to get parental consent, but it says that an operator must choose a method reasonably designed in light of available technology to ensure that the person giving the consent is the child's parent.